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DINNER 


Hi[E¥   EIGLAID    SOCIETY 


WITH  THE 


SPEECHES 


MtssRS.    GRINNELL.    BELLOWS,    J.    PRESCOTT    HALL.    WEBSTER,    BULWER. 

BETHUNE.    DRAPER,    AND    J.   WATSON    WEBB.    TOGETriER   WITH 

JLETTEU-3    FROM    DISTINGUISHED    INDIVIDUALS. 


CELEBRATED  AT  THE  ASTOR  HOUSE, 


DECEMBER   23.    18S0. 


NE  W-YORK: 
1851. 


COURIEK   AW  ENQTHRER  JOB   PRINTING   ESTABLISHMENT, 
H.  F.  SNOWDEN,  PRINTER,  70   WALL-ST.,  N.  Y. 


UCSB   LIBRARY 


Board    of   Officers. 


MOSES  H.  GRINNELL,  President. 
SIMEON  DRAPER,  Isl  Vice  PresidenL 
GEORGE   CURTIS,  2d  Vice  PresidenL 


Counsellors. 


PAUL  BABCOCK, 
B.  W.  BENNEY, 
CHARLES  A.  STETSON, 
CHARLES  A.  PEABODY, 

HARVEY  P.  PEET, 
LUTHER  B.  WYMAN, 
GEORGE  WARREN, 
HENRY  H.  HURLBUT, 
CHARLES  E.  BEEBEE, 
WM.  CURTIS  NOYES, 
WILLARD  PARKER, 
JONATHAN  STURGES, 


JOSHUA  L.  POPE,  Treasurer. 
EPHRADI  KINGSBURY,    Secretary. 


■  AssislarU  Counsellors. 


COMMITTEE   OF   ARRANGEMENTS. 

CHARLES  A.  STETSON,  GEORGE  WARREN, 

LUTHER  B.  WYMAN,  CHARLES  A.  PEABODY, 

CHARLES  E.   BEEBEE. 


Guests  of  the  New-England  Society  of  New- York. 


Hon.  DANIEL  WEBSTER,  Secretary  of  Slate. 

Sir  henry  BULWER,  British  Minister. 

General  MOSQUERA,  Ex-President  of  New  Orenada. 

G.  P.  R.  JAMES,  England. 

J.  PRESCOTT  HALL,  U.  S.  District  Attorney. 

Hon.  F.  a.  TALLMADGE,  Recorder  of  the  City. 

Brig.  Gen.  WHITING,  United  Stales  Army. 

Rev.  Mr.    VERMYLYE,  New-York. 

Rev.  Mr.  BELLOWS, 

Rev.  Mr.  STEBBINS, 

Rev.  Mr.  BETHUNE, 

CHARLES  KING,  President  of  Columbia  College. 

A.  H.  HAZZARD,  EnJieU,  Ct. 

3.  DE  PUYSTER  OGDEN,  President  of  St.  Nicholas  Society. 

Mr.  RODEWALD,  President  of  the  German  Charitable  Society. 

RICHARD  IRVIN,  President  of  the  St.  Andrew's  Society. 

Mr.  YOUNG,  Vice  President  of  St.  George's  Society. 


NEW  ENGLAND  SOCIETY  DINNER. 


SPEECHES,   ETC. 


After  the  cloth  was  removed,  Mr.  Grinnell,  the  Pres- 
ident, made  the  following  remarks : — 

Gentlemen  of  the  New  England  Society : 

I  am  much  gratified  to  observe  that  our  annual  gath- 
ering retains  such  interest  as  to  call  forth  the  assemblage 
which  I  now  see  before  me. 

The  repetition  of  our  celebrations  for  so  many  years 
would  seem  naturally  to  indicate  that  an  occasion  so  old 
and  familiar  might  fail  to  exercise  its  usual  influence;  but 
I  am  not  permitted  to  doubt  that  the  stern  old  Pilgrim  and 
his  principles  are  still  cherished  with  all  the  fervor  they  so 
richly  deserve. 

I  am  happy  to  say  that  no  meeting  of  the  Society  has 
ever  exhibited  a  greater  number  of  its  members  ;  nor  have 
we  ever  on  any  occasion  been  honored  by  more  distin- 
guished guests. 

On  my  right  behold  the  illustrious  Defender  of  the  Con- 
stitution, whose  name  will  be  cherished  throughout  all  time 
by  every  true  friend  of  rational  liberty. 


On  my  left  I  see,  with  very  great  satisfaction,  the  dii- 
tinguished  representative  of  her  Britannic  Majesty.  What 
a  combination  !  Old  England  and  New  England!  Britain 
and  America ! 

Gentlemen,  this  presence,  this  conjunction,  representing 
the  great  principles  of  freedom  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 
give  rise  to  thoughts  of  deep  and  permanent  interest.  Both 
countries  are  law-loving  and  law-abiding.  Each  has  ex- 
hibited to  the  other  bright  precedents  of  free  thought,  of  a 
free  press,  and  a  I'ree  intercourse. 

If  in  the  progress  of  events  anything  can  be  added  to  our 
prosperity  in  these  respects,  let  that  nation  bear  the  palm 
that  furnishes  the  best  example. 

Our  Society  may  well  feel  proud  that  it  can  present 
inducements  whicli  shall  bring  to  its  festive  board  such  dis- 
tinguished persons  to  do  it  honor. 

Trusting  that  our  hearts  and  our  energies  may  be  moved 
to  continue  in  the  dissemination  of  the  true  principles  of  the 
Pilgrims, — civil  rights  and  civil  liberty  all  over  the  world, — 
1  shall  without  further  remark,  proceed  in  the  order  of  our 
arrangements,  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this  our  annual 
celebration. 

Mr.  Grinnell  gave  the  following  three  first  of  the  regu- 
lar toasts  •■ — 

First—''  The  Day — An  era  in  the  historv  of  human  progress.  May  ilbe  honored 
and  commemorated  by  all  the  sons  of  New  England."     Music. 

Second  —  "  The  President  of  the  United  States."    Music. 

Third—"  The  Governor  of  the  State  of  New- York."    Music. 

SPEECH  OF  THE  REV.  MR.  BELLOWS. 

Fourth. — "  The  clergy  of  New  England.  Their  standard  of  faith  is  the  word  of 
God — their  rule  of  practice  the  illusiruiion  of  its  principles," 

After  the  music,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bellows  replied  : 

Mr.  President,  the  band  of  Pilgrim  hearts  here  present 
"responds  even  more  harmoniously  to  your  sentiment  than 
the  orchestra  whose  tones  have  just  resounded  in  its  honor 
through  the  hall.  Were  it  not  so,  I  should  shrink  from  un- 
expectedly occupying  the  place  oi  first  speaker,  or  speaker 
at  ail,  on  an  occasion  of  so  much  expectation  as  this.     But 


I  know  that  Puritan  sentiment  heartily  assigns  the  first  place 
to  the  theme  of  your  toast.  It  is  not  the  clergy  of  New  Eng- 
land jou  mean  to  honor,  but  the  religion  of  New  England, 
and  her  religion,  however  unworthily  represented,  has  "no 
right  to  be  shamefaced  in  any  presence.  In  speaking  for 
her,  the  humblest  person  here  would  have  an  advantage,  on 
an  occasion  like  this,  over  the  most  exalted  representative 
of  any  other  interest. 

Sir,  it  is  becoming  in  the  descendants  of  our  fathers  to 
make  a  distinction  between  their  religion  and  their  clergy — 
for  it  is  our  highest  honor  and  privilege  to  have  descended 
from  founders,  whose  piety  needed  little  official  support. 
Tlye  tide  of  religious  enthusiasm  which  bore  our  lathers 
here,  rose  above  the  line  which  divides  the  layman  from  the 
priest.  In  the  Old  Colony,  there  was  no- teaching  elder  for 
several  years,  but  the  people  were  not  less  attentive  to  their 
religious  duties  for  that.  Their  interest  in  religion  was  too 
personal  and  thorough,  too  general  and  characteristic,  to 
be  dependent  on  the  ordinary  professional  stimulus.  Every 
leading  man  was  a  priest  unto  God,  learned  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, apt  to  teach,  and  requiring  no  clerical  guide  to  make 
the  Bible  plain  or  to  enforce  its  authority.  Indeed  it  would 
have  been  strange  had  the  Pilgrims  neglected  the  very  thing 
that  brought  them  here.  They  came  to  New  England  for 
the  sake  of  religion — not  so  much  for  freedom  of  conscience, 
as  strictness  of  conscience — for  purity  of  religion  more  than 
for  religious  liberty  ;  and  that  freedom  of  conscience  we 
have  inherited  from  them,  precious  as  it  is,  is  far  less  valu- 
able than  the  legacy  of  faith  and  piety — the  sanctity  of 
personal  religion — bequeathed  by  their  great  and  solemn 
example. 

It  was  not  till  the  first  era  of  religious  enthusiasm  had  pass- 
ed by,  that  the  clergy  of  New  England  became  as  a  class 
important  and  influential.  And  then  respect  for  religion, 
secured  their  office  reverence  and  their  counsel  attention. 
There  was  no  disposition  to  make  light  of  their  wisdom  in 
things  pertaining  to  this  life.  Our  fathers  had  not  learned 
how  to  separate  between  the  principles  applicable  to  politics 
and  business  and  those  applicable  to  our  eternal  relations. 
The  clergy,  consequently,  were  freely  and  deferentially 
consulted  upon  all  questions  of  social  or  political  impor- 
tance, and   it  is  a  mere  matter  of  history  that  they  had  a 


8 

large  part  in  the  shaping  of  the  early  civil  policy  of  New 
England.  If  Winthrop  and  Haynes  and  Eatoiv  left  the 
impress  of  their  judicious  minds  upon  the  political  institutes 
of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  Cotton  and  Hooker 
and  Davenport  contributed  no  less  to  their  candor,  and 
are  no  less  commemorated  by  them.  I.vcrease  Mather 
was  largely  instrumental  in  obtaining  the  second  charter  of 
Massachusetts ;  while  the  memory  of  Mayiieu  and  Chaun- 
CEY  and  Cooper  is  fragrant  among  all  those  acquainted  with 
the  struggles  which  preceded  and  accompanied  our  Revolu- 
tion. Nor  were  our  fathers  afraid  of  political  sermons. 
They  were  accustomed  to  this  method  of  receiving  advice. 
The  Griffin  which  brought  over  Haynes  and  Hooker  and 
Cotton,  was  sped  on  her  voyage  by  three  sermons  a  day — 
in  which  politics  no  doubt  had  their  place.  The  venerable 
election  sermon  of  Massachusetts  perpetuates  the  deference 
which  politics  has  always  paid  to  religion  and  her  ministers, 
among  the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims.  It  is  true  there 
was  always  a  jealousy  of  direct  political  interference  from 
the  clergy,  and  probably  the  New  England  clergy  have  owed 
their  political  influence,  in  no  small  degree,  to  their  careful 
exclusion  from  formal  political  power.  Nay,  they  have  owed 
it  no  less  to  the  liberty  the  people  have  always  reserved  to 
themselves,  freely  to  differ  from  their  ministers,  when  their 
political  sentiments  did  not  please  them  When  Cotton, 
in  1634,  on  election  day,  in  order  to  check  the  too  demo- 
cratic tendencies  of  the  times,  preached  to  the  assembled 
freemen  against  rotation  in  office,  the  electors,  380  in  num- 
ber, after  a  most  respectful  hearing,  proceeded  next  day  to 
choose  a  new  Governor  and  Deputy.  And  so  always  they 
were  equally  ready  to  take  the  advice  of  the  clergy  and  to 
follow  their  own,  and  respected  their  own  independence  and 
courage  too  much  to  think  it  necessary  to  silence  their 
ministers  for  fear  they  might  be  compelled  to  follow  their 
opinions,  when  contrary  to  their  own  judgment. 

And  why,  Mr.  President,  among  descendants  of  the  Pil- 
grims, should  there  be  any  jealousy  between  the  clergy,  and 
the  statesmen  and  politicians  of  the  land,  in  respect  to  poli- 
tical influence  or  the  discussion  of  questions  of  national 
importance  ?  Their  functions  are  different ;  they  occupy 
different  spheres,  and  look  at  politics  from  different  yet 
equally  important  points  of  view.    It  belongs  to  men  having 


in  charge  the  immediate  adjustment  of  social  order  to  con^ 
sider  what  is  expedient  and  feasible,  and  to  make  such  ac- 
commodations between  the  desirable  and  the  possible  as 
sound  policy  or  worldly  wisdom  may  Rup;gest  or  require. 
But  certnirily  there  is  a  place  in  society  for  those  who  strictly 
contemplate  what  is  absolutely  just  and  good,,  and  endeavor 
to  conform  the  shows  of  things  to  the  desires  of  the  mind  j 
to  stimulate  communities  to  the  emulation  of  abstract  prin- 
ciples of  right  in  their  political  order  and  conduct.  If  prac- 
ticed statesmen,  sagacious  merchants,  subtle  lawyers,  claim, 
in  their  united  wisdom  and  moderation,  to  be  the  heart  of 
a  prosperous  and  well-ordered  community — equalizing  the 
circulation  and  distributing  vital  nourishment  to  every  part, 
— the  clergy  may  claim  to  represent  the  lungs  of  the  na- 
tion, whose  function  it  is  to  purify  public  sentiment,  the 
life-blood  of  the  body  politic,  by  bringing  it  in  contact  with 
the  free,  pure  air  of  Heaven. 

Mr.  President,  my  hand  is  resting  on  the  corner-stone  of 
our  institutions — not  on  Plymouth  rock,  but  that  which 
might  fitly  have  been  placed  beneath  Plymouth  rock  as  a 
more  fundamental  base,  when  a  few  years  ago  it  was  lifted 
from  its  bed  to  bring  it  above  the  surface  of  the  ground. 
It  is  the  Bible — a  Bible  just  put  into  my  hands  by  a  gentle- 
man present,  (J.  Covvles,  Esq.)  whose  ancestor  brought  it 
over  in  the  Mayflower,  and  who,  if  I  mistake  not,  was  the 
father  of  the  first  child  born  in  New  iiingland.  Sir,  this 
Bible,  a  precious  memorial  in  itself,  furnishes  a  significant 
and  happy  omen,  in  that  it  has  been  for  the  last  twenty 
years  in  Georgia.  This  Bible  sent  our  Fathers  here,  it  in- 
spired their  instructions,  and  it  must  defend  and  uphold 
them.  The  Bible,  interpreted  and  applied  by  an  earnest 
and  independent  clergy  to  the  consciences  of  a  free  and 
intelligent  people,  has  been  the  sacred  source  of  whatever 
is  glorious  in  our  past  history,  is  the  cause  of  our  present 
prosperity,  and  the  only  security  for  our  future  welfare  as  a 
nation. 

But,  Sir,  I  must  not  forget  that  long  sermons  are  not  as 
popular  now  as  in  the  days  when  a  sermon  in  its  teens  was 
not  considered  impertinent.  I  must  keep  myself  reminded 
of  a  recent  ingenious  parallel  between  a  sermon  and  a  kiss, 
which,  it  was  wittily  said,  both  properly  consisted  of  two 
heads  and  an  application.  I  will  only  add,  for  fear  some 
2 


10 

tell-tale  parishioner,  of  whom  I  see  many,  might  maliciously 
do  it  himself,  that  there  is  a  modern  way  of  evading  even 
this  rule,  by  honoring  it  more,  i.  e.  abbreviating  the  sermon 
to  one  head,  but  furnishing  it  with  a  very  long  tail.  But 
this,  at  least  now,  shall  be  cut  off". 

Mr.  President,  our  Congress  in  1790  passed  an  act,  abol- 
ishing whatever  remained  of  that  old  statute  known  to  the 
English  law  under  the  title,  "  The  Benefit  of  Clergy."  May 
I,  without  claiming  too  much  for  «ny  own  profession,  be 
allowed  to  hope  that  public  sentiment  will  re-enact  this 
statute  in  a  new  and  more  potent  form,  and  that  the  "  Ben- 
efit of  Clergy"  will  be  transmuted  from  a  privilege  claimed 
by  the  priest  into  a  blessing  conferred  upon  the  people. 

SPEECH  OF  J.  PRESCOTT  HALL,  ESO. 

Fifth — "  The  Common  School: — A  tree  of  knowledge  originally  planted  in  New 
England;  its  seeds  are  wafted  over  the  Continent." 

J.  Prescott  Hall,  Esq.,  responded  to  this  toast,  as  fol- 
lows : — 

The  sentiment  which  has  just  been  expressed,  carries 
every  New  England  man  back  to  the  days  of  his  childhood. 

It  associates  itself  with  those  school-boy  limes  when  he 
was  made  subject  to  the  discipline  of  the  village  teacher; 
stern  perhaps  in  manner,  but  kind  and  persuasive  in  action. 
And  these  recollections  are  all  connected  with  the  cheerful 
play-ground,  the  healthful  exercise,  the  ringing  laugh,  and 
light  heart  of  those  happy  days,  when  he  was  sheltered 
beneath  the  roof-tree  of  his  parents,  fed  by  their  care,  and 
protected  by  their  watchfulness. 

Then,  again,  the  green  hills  and  smiling  valleys :  the 
murmuring  brooks  and  mountain  torrents  of  his  own  New 
England,  come  back  to  his  vision,  and  his  heart  melts  at 
the  thought  of  days  "long  vanished,  which  can  ne'er  come 
again." 

But  if  his  soul  be  sorrowful,  oppressed  by  this  remem- 
brance of  his  early  youth,  yet  when  he  reflects  upon  the 
benefits  which  he  himself  has  derived  from  the  free  public 
institutions  of  his  native  land :  when  he  reviews  the  hours 
of  his  childhood,  and  connects  them  with  his  present  con- 
dition, he  cannot  but  raise  his  eyes  in  thankfulness  to  those 


11 

thoughtful  and  far-seeing  ancestors,  who  more  than  two 
centuries  ago  had  no  sooner  transported  a  rational  liberty 
into  the  New  World,  than  they  prepared  the  only  means  by 
which  that  liberty  could  be  sustained ;  and  that  was  by  a 
system  of  public  instruction  which  should  embrace  every 
individual  in  the  Commonwealth. 

I  know  not  whence  it  was,  unless  from  their  own  good 
sense,  that  our  ancestors  derived  this  notion  of  the  indis- 
pensable necessity,  in  a  free  government,  of  a  thorough  plan 
of  general  education  at  the  public  expense. 

Certain  it  is,  they  left  behind  them  no  corresponding  in- 
stitutions in  their  native  country;  for  in  old  England  no 
system,  even  of  charity  instruction,  was  thought  of  until 
long  after  the  fires  of  the  village  school-houses  were  blazing 
upon  their  hearths  in  all  the  towns  of  her  northern  colonies. 
But  immediately  after  the  settlement  of  Plymouth,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Connecticut,  we  find  in  their  early  legisla- 
tion, stern  enactments  compelling  all  parents  and  all  masters 
to  see  that  their  children,  apprentices  and  servants  were 
duly  trained  in  the  proper  elements  of  a  good  English  edu- 
cation ;  that  they  might  be  able  to  read  the  Scriptures  in 
their  native  language  without  gloss  or  paraphrase,  and  un- 
derstand the  capital  laws  of  their  country. 

To  accomplish  this  object  eflfectually,  the  property  of 
every  individual  was  held  subject  to  this  first  want  of  a 
social  community ;  and  the  question  was  not,  whether  he 
who  paid  the  tax  was  to  be  directly  benefitted  by  it,  but 
whether  he  was  a  member  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  so, 
subject  to  this  class  of  charges. 

Plymouth,  almost  as  soon  as  settled,  laid  an  excise  upon 
the  fisheries  at  Cape  Cod,  for  the  express  purpose  of  raising 
a  fund  in  aid  of  public  schools ;  and  the  laws  of  Connect- 
icut were  so  stern  upon  the  subject  of  education,  that  if  pa- 
rents disregarded  their  duty  in  this  respect,  and  continued 
in  neglect  after  admonition,  then  the  control  of  the  children 
might  be  transferred  from  the  parents  to  proper  guardians, 
who  were  to  discharge  the  solemn  duty  which  had  been 
thus  neglected. 

Our  ancestors  seem  to  have  been  impressed,  from  the  be- 
ginning, with  the  belief  that  a.  good  education  "was  better 
than  riches,"  and  if  they  established  a  proper  system  of 
public  instruction  at  the  public  expense,  that  then,  as  a  mat- 


m 

ter  of  course,  the  blessings  of  free  institutions  wera  made 
sure  and  perpetual. 

Nor  at  this  early  stage  of  their  history  did  they  confine 
themselves  to  the  rudiments  of  learning  alone  ;  for  they  not 
only  ordained  that  every  town  containing  a  given  number 
of  families  should  maintain  a  common  school,  but  that  when 
those  families  had  increased  in  a  certain  ratio,  then  that 
such  towns  should  maintain  a  grammar  school  also,  at  their 
own  expense. 

They  went  even  further  than  this :  and  from  a  very  early 
period  of  their  history  the  New  England  colonies  turned 
their  attention  to  the  establishment  of  colleges  for  the  higher 
branches  of  education,  that  science  and  its  benefits  might 
not  be  lost  from  out  the  land,  or  driven  to  foreign  countries 
for  refuge  and  cultivation.  And  almost  from  this  beginning 
we  find  that  Harvard  and  Yale,  "  those  twins  of  learning," 
were  fostered  and  sheltered  by  the  protecting  power  of  the 
government. 

The  object  of  our  ancestors  seemed  to  be  to  secure  in- 
struction at  all  events  and  all  hazards,  and  this  peculiarity 
stamped  itself  on  'their  characters.  The  knowledge  thus 
acquired  prepared  the  descendants  of  the  early  planters  for 
that  great  struggle  which  was  to  be  their  sure  inheritance, 
and  it  enabled  them  to  understand  all  their  just  rights  while 
defending  their  chartered  privileges. 

When  the  people  of  Boston  met,  in  open  town  meet- 
ing in  1764,  to  consider  the  Stamp  Act,  they  did  not 
yield  up  the  general  supervision  of  their  public  affairs  ex- 
clusively to  their  Representatives,  but  coming  together  in  a 
public  assembly,  they  then  and  there  discussed  those  grave 
matters,  and  gave  instructions  to  their  representatives,  di- 
rect and  specific,  as  to  the  opinions  they  were  to  assert,  and 
the  grounds  they  were  to  maintain. 

Could  ignorant  men  have  done  this  ?  Could  uneducated 
men  have  done  this  ?  And  do  we  not  here  perceive  the 
direct  influence  of  the  public  schools  upon  the  minds  of 
those  who  had  received  their  benefits  ? 

See  it  in  Franklin,  once  a  Boston  school-boy,  afterwards 
the  Sage,  the  Patriot  and  Philosopher.  He  never  received 
an  hour  of  instruction  except  in  the  public  institutions  of 
his  native  town.  And  yet,  who  is  there  that  ever  wrote 
his  native  language  with  more  beauty,  clearness  and  pre- 
cision ?    Guided  by  this  Ariadne's  clew,  furnished  from  a 


18 

free  school  'of  New  England,  he  was  led  throucrh  all  the 

mazes  of  science  ;  and  finally,  after  a  life  devoted  to  knowl- 
edge, to  philosophy  and  the  service  of  his  country,  the 
school-boy  of  Boston  went  down  to  the  grave  full  of  years 
and  full  of  honors,  while  upon  his  tomb-stone  was  inscribed 
by  a  foreign  hand,  that  magnificent  epitaph  which  will  never 
die: — 

"Eripuit  coilo  fulmen  scepcrumque  lyrannis." 

Look  "again,  and  see  further  products  of  New  England 
school-houses.  See  Samuel  Adams,  the  earliest  patriot  of 
the  Revolution,  so  stern,  so  incorruptible,  that  his  worst 
enemy,  Gov.  Hutchinson,  said  there  was  no  office  under 
the  British  crown  that  could  seduce  him  from  fidelity  to  his 
native  land. 

Honored  in  life,  which  was  prolonged  to  an  unusual  pe- 
riod, the  solace  of  his  declining  years  was  to  discourse  upon 
the  independence  of  his  country,  the  manners  and  customs 
of  New  England,  and  the  Free  Schools  by  which  they 
were  fashioned  and  maintained. 

See  Ellsworth,  of  Connecticut,  once  a  Chief  Justice 
of  your  federal  judiciary,  framing  with  his  own  hand  the 
general  jurisprudence  of  the  Union,  after  the  plain  and  sim- 
ple models  of  his  native  State,  while  heaven-descended 
mercy  is  softening  down  the  Puritan  sternness  of  ancient 
practice. 

Look  once  again,  and  see  John  Adams,  the  son  of  a  New 
England  farmer.  See  him,  too,  struggling  with  the  waves 
of  early  toil,  to  emerge  at  last  in  the  halls  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  there  to  stand,  in  the  language  of  Jefferson,  the 
Ajax'Telamon  of  his  country. 

The  Grecian  Ajax,  when  surrounded  by  darkness  in  the 
day  of  battle,  addressing  himself  to  his  deity,  implored  for 
light,  saying: 

"Dispel  this  cloud,  the  light  of  Heaven  restore, 
"  Give  me  to  see,  and  Ajax  asks  no  more." 

The  mind  of  the  American  Ajax  had  been  touched  by 
the  electric  fire  of  a  New  England  school-house,  and  he, 
too,  could  say,  "  give  me  this  light,  and  Ajax  asks  no 
more." 

Look,  at  last,  for  a  glorious  elucidation  of  this  very  sub- 
ject in  our  own  times  and  under  our  own  eyes. 

Look  to  him  who  has  illustrated  the  whole  course  of  a 


14 

New  England  education  in  his  own  person  and  in  his  own 
tiction. 

See  him  bearing  the  school-boy  satchel  upon  the  granite 
hills  of  N'ew  Hampshire,  to  drink  in  knowledge  from  the 
public  sources,  pure  as  the  crystal  streams  of  his  native 
mountains. 

See  him  advancing,  step  by  step,  "clothed  in"  this  "pano- 
ply complete  of  Heavenly  durance,"  until  he  has  surmounted 
the  rugged  steeps  of  human  acquirement,  and  now  stands 
secure  upon  their  summit. 

Then  we  also  may 

"  To  the  famous  orator  repair," 

'  whose  resistless  eloquence 


"  Wielded  at  will  this  fierce  deinocraty, 

" and  fulmineil  over  Greece, 

"To  Macedon  and  Artaxerxes' throne.*' 

And,  gentlemen,  when  we  consider  such  great  results 
flowing  from  such  apparently  inconsiderable  causes,  may 
we  not  look  back  upon  the  good  deeds  of  our  great  ances- 
tors, and  bless  this  chiefest  work  of  their  hands — the  Free 
Schools  of  New  England? 

To  them  we  are  indebted  for  everything  that  is  practical 
and  valuable  in  our  educations.  It  is  to  those  very  Free 
Schools  that  we  owe  the  privilege  we  now  enjoy  of  sitting 
at  this  festive  board,  "  under  our  own  vine  and  fig  tree, 
with  none  to  molest  or  make  us  afraid." 

This  glorious  institution  has  been  transplanted  here,  to 
this  our  adopted  State.  It  has  been  fostered  and  sustained 
even  to  this  very  hour  by  the  free  voters  of  this  great  com- 
munity, in  a  contest  whose  dying  echoes  still  vibrate  in  our 
ears. 

This  goodly  "  tree  of  knowledge"  has  struck  its  roots 
strong  and  deep  in  the  genial  soil  of  New- York,  and  we 
trust  that  it  may  here  remain  and  spring  up  and  blossom,  to 
bring  forth  "  sixty  and  an  hundred  fold"  in  the  rich  fruits  of 
civilization  and  human  happiness. 

SPEECH  OF  HON.  DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

Mr.  Grinnell  then  asked  attention  to  a  toast  which  was 
not  on  the  catalogue,  but  which  he  thought  every  one  would 
vote  to  be  placed  there  forthwith.     He  gave — 

"The  Cokstitotion  ahd  the  Ukiow,  a5d  their  Chief  Defender." 


15 

This  sentiment  was  received  with  great  applause ;  and 
when  Mr.  Webster  rose  to  respond  to  it,  he  was  frreeted 
with  the  most  prolonged  and  tumultuous  cheers.  When 
the  applause  had  subsided,  he  spoke  as  follows : — 

Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the 

New-  York  New  England  Society : 

Ye  sons  of  New  England  !  Ye  brethren  of  a  kindred  tie ! 
I  have  come  hither  to-night,  not  without  some  inconven- 
ience, that  I  might  behold  a  congregation  whose  faces  bear 
lineaments  of  a  New  England  origin,  and  whose  hearts 
beat  with  full  New  England  pulsations.  [Cheers.]  I  wil- 
lingly make  the  sacrifice.  I  am  here,  to  meet  this  assembly 
of  the  great  offshoot  of  the  Pilgrim  Society  of  Massachusetts, 
the  Pilgrim  Society  of  New- York.  And,  gentlemen,  I  shall 
begin  what  I  have  to  say,  which  is  but  little,  by  tendering 
to  you  my  thanks  for  the  invitation  extended  to  me,  and  by 
wishing  you,  one  and  all,  every  kind  of  happiness  and  pros- 
perity. 

Gentlemen,  this  has  been  a  stormy,  a  cold,  a  boisterous 
and  inclement  day.  The  winds  have  been  harsh,  the  skies 
have  been  severe  ;  and  if  we  had  no  houses  over  our  heads  ; 
if  we  had  no  shelter  against  this  howling  and  freezing  tem- 
pest ;  if  we  were  wan  and  worn  out ;  if  half  of  us  were  sick 
and  tired,  and  ready  to  descend  into  the  grave  ;  if  we  were 
on  the  bleak  coast  of  Plymouth,  houseless,  homeless,  with 
nothing  over  our  heads  but  the  Heavens,  and  that  God  who 
sits  above  the  Heavens;  if  we  had  distressed  wives  on  our 
arms,  and  huniiry  and  shivering  children  clinging  to  our 
skirts,  we  should  see  something,  and  feel  something,  of  that 
scene  which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  was  enacted  at 
Plymouth  on  the  22d  of  December,  1620. 

Thanks  to  Almighty  God,  who  from  that  distressed,  early 
condition  of  our  fathers,  has  raised  us  to  a  height  of  pros- 
perity and  of  happiness  whi,ch  they  neither  enjoyed  nor 
could  have  anticipated  !  We  have  learned  much  of  them  ;: 
they  could  have  foreseen  little  of  us.  Would  to  God,  my 
friends,  v/ould  to  God  that  when  we  carry  our  affections 
and  our  recollections  back  to  that  period,  we  could  arm 
ourselves  with  something  of  the  stern  virtues  which  sup- 
ported them  in  that  hour  of  peril,  and  exposure,  and  suffer- 


w 

ing.  Would  to  God  that  we  possessed  that  unconquerable 
resolution,  stronger  than  bars  of  brass  or  iron,  which  fierved 
their  hearts  ;  that  patience,  "sovereign  o'er  transmuted  ill," 
and  above  all,  that  faith,  tl  at  Religious  faith  which,  with 
eyes  fast  fixed  upon  Heaven,  tramples  alt  things  earthly 
beneath  her  triumphant  feet!     [Applause.] 

Gentlemen,  the  scenes  of  this  world  change.  What  our 
ancestors  saw  and  felt,  we  shall  not  see  nor  feel.  What 
they  achieved,  it  is  denied  to  us  even  to  attempt.  The  se- 
verer duties  of  life,  requiring  the  exercise  of  the  stern  and 
unbending  virtues,  were  xheirs.  They  were  called  upon  for 
the  exhibition  of  those  austere  qualities  which,  before  they 
came  to  the  western  wilderness,  had  made  them  what  they 
were.  Things  have  changed.  In  the  progress  of  society, 
the  fashions,  the  habits  of  life,  and  all  its  conditions,  have 
changed.  Their  rigid  sentiments,  and  their  tenets,  appa- 
rently harsh  and  exclusive,  we  are  not  called  on,  in  every 
respect,  to  imitate  or  commend ;  or  rather  to  imitate,  for 
we  should  commend  them  always,  when  we  consider  that 
state  of  society  in  which  they  had  been  adopted,  and  in 
which  they  seemed  necessary.  Our  fathers  had  that  reli- 
gious sentiment,  that  trust  in  Providence,  that  determina- 
tion to  do  right,  and  to  seek,  through  every  degree  of  toil 
and  suffering,  the  honor  of  God,  and  the  preservation  of 
their  liberties,  which  we  shall  do  well  to  cherish,  to  imitate, 
and  to  equal,  so  far  as  God  may  enable  us.  It  may  be  true, 
and  it  is  true,  that  in  the  progress  of  society  the  milder  vir- 
tues have  come  to  belong  more  especially  to  our  day  and 
our  condition.  The  Pilgrims  had  been  great  sufferers  from 
intolerance ;  it  was  not  unnatural  that  their  own  faith  and 
practice,  as  a  consequence,  should  become  somewhat  intol- 
erant. This  is  the  common  infirmity  of  human  nature. 
Man  retaliates  on  man.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  however,  that  the 
greater  spread  of  the  benignant  principles  of  religion,  and  of 
the  divine  charity  of  Christianity,  has,  to  some  extent,  im- 
proved the  sentiments  which  prevailed  in  the  world  at  that 
time.  No  doubt  the  "first  comers,"  as  they  were  called, 
were  attached  to  their  own  forms  of  public  worship,  and  to 
their  own  particular  and  strongly  cherished  religious  senti- 
ments. No  doubt  they  esteemed  those  sentiments,  and  the 
observances  which  they  practiced,  to  be  absolutely  binding 
on  all,  by  the  authority  of  the  word  of  God.     It  is  true,  I 


17 

think,  in  the  general  advancement  of  human  intelligence, 
that  we  find  what  they  do  not  seem  to  have  found,  that  a 
greater  toleration  of  religious  opinion,  a  more  friendly  feel- 
ing towards  all  who  profess  reverence  for  God,  and  obedi- 
ence to  his  commands,  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  great  and 
fundamental  principles  of  religion.  I  might  rather  say  is,  it- 
self, one  of  those  fundamental  principles.  So  we  see  in  our 
day,  I  think,  without  any  departure  from  the  essential  prin- 
ciples of  our  fathers,  a  more  enlarged  and  comprehensive 
Christian  philanthropy.  It  seems  to  be  the  American  destiny, 
the  mission  which  God  has  entrusted  to  us  here  on  this  shore 
of  the  Atlantic,  the  great  conception  and  the  great  duty  to 
which  we  are  born,  to  show  that  all  sects,  and  all  denomi- 
nations, professing  reverence  for  the  authority  of  the  Author 
of  our  being,  and  belief  in  his  Revelations,  may  be  safely 
tolerated  without  prejudice  either  to  our  religion  or  to  our 
liberties.     [Cheers.] 

We  are  Protestants,  generally  speaking ;  but  you  all 
know  that  there  presides  at  the  head  of  the  Supreme  Ju- 
dicature of  the  United  States  a  Roman  Catholic ;  and  no 
man,  I  suppose,  through  the  whole  United  States,  imagines 
that  the  judicature  of  the  country  is  less  safe,  that  the 
administration  of  public  justice  is  less  respectable  or  less 
secure,  because  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States  has 
been,  and  is,  an  ardent  adherent  to  that  religion.  And  so  it 
is  in  every  department  of  society  amongst  us.  In  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  in  all  public  offices,  and  all  public 
affairs,  we  proceed  on  the  idea  that  a  man's  religious  belief 
is  a  matter  above  human  law  ;  that  it  is  a  question  to  be 
settled  between  him  and  his  Maker,  because  he  is  responsi- 
ble to  none  but  his  Maker  for  adopting  or  rejecting  revealed 
truth.  And  here  is  the  great  distinction  which  is  sometimes 
overlooked,  and  which  1  am  afraid  is  now  too  often  over- 
looked, in  this  land,  the  glorious  inheritance  of  the  sons  of 
the  Pilgrims.  Men,  for  their  religious  sentiments,  are  ac- 
countable to  God,  and  to  God  only.  Religion  is  both  a 
communication  and  a  tie  between  man  and  his  Maker ;  and 
to  his  own  master  every  man  standeth  or  falleth.  But 
when  men  come  together  ,in  society,  establish  social  rela- 
tions, and  form  governments  for  the  protection  of  the  rights 
of  all,  then  it  is  indispensable  that  this  right  of  private  judg- 

3 


18 

ment  should  in  some  measure  be  relinquished  and  made 
subservient  to  the  judgment  of  the  whole.  Religion  may 
exist  while  every  man  is  left  responsible  only  to  God.  So- 
ciety, civil  rule,  the  civil  state,  cannot  exist,  while  every 
man  is  responsible  to  nobody  and  to  nothing  but  to  his  own 
opinion.  And  our  New  England  ancestors  understood  all 
this  quite  well.  Gentlemen,  there  is  the  "  Constitution'* 
which  was  adopted  on  board  the  Mayflower  in  November, 
1620,  while  that  bark  of  immortal  memory  was  riding  at  an- 
chor in  the  harbor  of  Cape  Cod.  What  is  it?  Its  authors 
honored  God  ;  they  professed  to  obey  all  his  commandments, 
and  to  live  ever  and  in  all  things  in  his  obedience.  But 
they  say,  nevertheless,  that  for  the  establishment  of  a  civil 
polity,  for  the  greater  security  and  preservation  of  their 
civil  rights  and  liberties,  they  agree  that  the  laws  and  ordi- 
nances, and  I  am  glad  they  put  in  the  word  "  constitutions'* 
invoking  the  name  of  the  Deity  on  their  resolution  ;  they 
say,  that  these  laws  and  ordinances,  and  constitutions,  which 
may  be  established  by  those  they  should  appoint  to  enact 
them,  they,  in  all  due  submission  and  obedience,  will  sup- 
port. 

This  constitution  is  not  long.  I  will  read  it.  It  invokes 
a  religious  sanction  and  the  authority  of  God  on  their  civil 
obligations  ;  for  it  was  no  doctrine  of  theirs  that  civil  obe- 
dience was  a  mere  matter  of  expediency.     Here  it  is  : 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen :  We,  whose  names  are  nnderwritten,  the  loyal  sub- 
iects  of  our  dread  Sovereign  Lord,  King  James,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  Great  Bri- 
toin,  France,  and  Ireland,  King,  and  Defender  of  the  Faiih,  &c.,  having  undertaken, 
lor  the  glory  of  God  and  advancement  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  honor  of  our  king 
and  country,  a  voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the  heathen  parts  of  Virginia,  do  by 
these  presents  solemnly  and  mutually,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  of  one  another, 
covenant  and  combine  ourselves  together  into  a  civil  body  poliiir,  for  our  better 
ordering  and  preservation,  and  furiiierance  of  the  ends  aforesaid,  and  by  vinafl 
hereof  to  enact,  constitute,  and  frame  such.  Just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts, 
constitutions,  and  offices,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most  meet  and  con- 
venient for  the  general  good  of  the  colony  i  unto  which  we  promise  all  due  submis- 
sion and  obedience." 

The  right  of  private  judgment  in  matters  between  the 
Creator  and  himself,  and  submission  and  obedience  to  the 
will  of  the  whole,  upon  whatsoever  respects  civil  pdlity  and 
the  administration  of  such  affairs  as  concerned  the  colony 
about  to  be  established,  they  regarded  as  entirely  consistent ; 
and  the  common  sense  of  mankind,  lettered  and  unlettered, 


19 

every  where  establishes  and  confirms  this  sentiment. 
Indeed,  all  must  see,  that  it  is  the  very  ligament,  the  very 
tie,  which  connects  man  to  man,  in  the  social  system ;  and 
these  sentiments  are  embodied  in  that  constitution.  Gen- 
tlemen, discourse  on  this  topic  might  be  enlarged,  but  I  pass 
from  it. 

Gentlemen,  we  are  now  two  hundred  and  thirty  years 
from  that  great  event.  There  is  the  Mayflower,  (pointing 
to  a  small  figure  of  a  ship,  in  the  form  of  confectionary, 
that  stood  before  him.)  There  is  a  little  resemblance,  but 
a  correct  one,  of  the  Mayjlower.  Sons  of  New  England ! 
there  was  in  ancient  times  a  ship  that  carried  Jason  to  the 
acquisition  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  There  was  a  flag-ship  at 
the  battle  of  Actium  which  made  Augustus  C^sar  master 
of  the  world.  In  modern  times,  there  have  been  flag-ships 
which  have  carried  Hawkes,  and  Howe,  and  Nelson  on  the 
other  continent,  and  Hull,  and  Decatur,  and  Stewart,  on 
this,  to  triumph.  What  are  they  all  ;  what  are  they  all,  in 
the  chance  of  remembrance  among  men,  to  that  little  barque, 
the  Mayjlower,  which  reached  these  shores  on  the  22d  day 
of  December,  1620.  Yes,  brethern  of  New  England,  yes! 
that  Mayflower  was  a  flower  destined  to  be  of  perpetual 
bloom!  [Cheers.]  Its  verdure  will  stand  the  sultry  blasts 
of  summer,  and  the  chilhng  winds  of  autumn.  It  will  defy 
winter;  it  will  defy  all  climate,  and  all  time,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  spread  its  petals  to  the  world,  and  to  exhale  an  ever 
living  odor  and  fragrance  "  to  the  last  syllable  of  recorded 
lime."     [Cheers.] 

Gentlemen,  brethren,  ye  of  New  England  !  whom  I  have 
come  some  hundreds  of  miles  to  meet  this  night,  let  me 
present  to  you  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  those  per- 
sonages who  came  hither  on  the  deck  of  the  Mayflower. 
Let  me  fancy  that  I  now  see  Elder  William  Brewster  en- 
tering the  door  at  the  further  end  of  this  hall.  A  tall  and  erect 
figure,  of  plain  dress,  of  no  elegance  of  manner  beyond  a 
respectful  bow,  mild  and  cheerful,  but  of  no  merriment 
that  reaches  beyond  a  smile.  Let  me  suppose  that  his 
image  stood  now  before  us,  or  that  it  was  looking  in  upon 
this  assembly. 

"  Are  ye,  are  ye,"  he  would  say,  with  a  voice  ol"  exulta- 
tion, and  yet  softened   with  melancholy,  "  Are  ye  our  chil- 


20 

"  dren  ?  Does  this  scene  of  refioeinent,  of  elegance,  of  riches, 
*' of  luxury,  does  all  this  come  from  our  labors?  Is  this 
"  magnificent  city,  the  like  of  which  we  never  saw  nor  heard 
"  of  on  either  continent,  is  this  but  an  offshoot  from  Plymouth 
"  rock  ? 

" Qais  jams  locus    .... 

dace  regio  in  terris  nostri  non  plena  laboris  1 

*'  Is  this  one  part  of  the  great  reward,  for  which  my 
"brethren  and  myself  endured  lives  of  toil  and  of  hardship? 
•'  We  had  faith  and  hope.  God  granted  us  the  spirit  to  look 
"  forward,  and  we  did  look  forward.  But  this  scene  we 
"  never  anticipated.  Our  hopes  were  on  another  life.  Of 
"  earthly  gratifications  we  tasted  little  ;  for  human  honor? 
"  we  had  little  expectation.  Our  bones  lie  on  the  hill  iu 
/'Plymouth  church-yard,  obscure,  unmarked,  secreted  to 
*•  preserve  our  graves  from  the  knowledge  of  savage  foes. 
"  No  stone  tells  where  we  lie.  And  yet,  let  me  say  to  you, 
"who  are  our  descendants,  who  possess  this  glorious  coun- 
"  try,  and  all  it  contains,  who  enjoy  this  hour  of  prosperity, 
*'  and  the  thousand  blessings  showered  upon  it  by  the  God 
**  of  your  fathers,  we  envy  you  not ;  we  reproach  you  not. 
"  Be  rich,  be  prosperous,  be  enlightened.  Live  in  pleasure, 
"  if  such  be  your  allotment  on  earth  ;  but  live,  also,  always 
'•  to  God  and  to  duty.  Spread  yourselves  and  your  children 
"  over  the  continent ;  accomplish  the  whole  of  your  great 
"  destiny  ;  and  if  so  be,  that  through  the  whole  you  carry 
'*  Puritan  hearts  with  you  ;  if  you  still  cherish  an  undying 
'*  love  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  mean  to  enjoy  them 
"  yourselves,  and  are  willing  to  shed  your  heart's  blood  to 
**  transmit  them  to  your  posterity,  then  are  you  worthy  de- 
*'  scendants  of  Carver  and  Allerton  and  Bradford,  and 
"  the  rest  of  those  who  landed  from  stormy  seas  on  the  rock 
*'  of  Plymouth."     [Loud  and  prolonged  cheers.] 

Gentlemen,  that  little  vessel,  on  the  22d  of  December, 
1620,  made  her  safe  landing  on  the  shore  of  Plymouth.  She 
had  been  tossed  on  a  tempestuous  ocean  ;  she  approached 
the  New  England  coast  under  circumstances  of  great  dis- 
tress and  trouble  ;  yet  amidst  all  the  disasters  of  her  voyage, 
she  accomplished  her  end,  and  she  placed  the  feet  of  a  hun- 
dred precious  souls  on  the  shore  of  the  New  World. 

Gentlemen,  let  her  be  considered  this  night  as  an  emblem 


SI 

of  New  England,  as  New  England  now  is.  New  England 
is  a  ship,  staunch,  strong,  well-built,  and  particularly  well- 
nnanned.  She  may  be  occasionally  thrown  into  the  trough 
of  the  sea,  by  the  violence  of  winds  and  waves,  and  may 
wallow  there  for  a  time  ;  but,  depend  upon  it,  she  will  right 
herself  She  will,  ere  long,  come  round  to  the  wind,  and 
will  obey  her  helm.     [Cheers  and  applause.] 

We  have  hardly  begun,  my  brethren,  to  realize  the  vast 
importance,  on  human  society,  and  on  the  history  and  hap- 
piness of  the  world,  of  the  voyage  of  that  little  vessel  which 
brought  the  love  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  hither,  and 
the  Bible,  the  word  of  God,  for  the  instruction  of  the  future 
generations  of  men.  We  have  hardly  begun  to  realize  the 
consequences  of  that  voyage.  Heretofore  the  extension  of 
our  race,  following  our  New  England  ancestry,  has  crept 
along  the  shore.  But  now  the  race  has  extended.  It  has 
crossed  the  continent.  It  has  not  only  transcended  the 
Alleghany,  but  has  capped  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  is 
now  upon  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  ;  and  on  this  day,  or,  if 
not  on  this  day,  then  this  day  twelvemonth,  descendants  of 
New  England  will  there  celebrate  the  landing 

A  Voice.     "  To-day  ;  they  celebrate  to-day." 

Mr.  Webster.  God  bless  them  !  Here's  to  the  health 
and  success  of  the  California  Society  of  Pilgrims  assembled 
on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  [Prolonged  applause.]  And 
it  shall  yet  go  hard,  if  the  three  hundred  millions  of  people 
of  China — if  they  are  intelligent  enough  to  understand  any 
thing — shall  not  one  day  hear  and  know  something  of  the 
Rock  of  Plymouth  too  !     [Laughter  and  cheers.] 

But,  gentlemen,  I  am  trespassing  too  long  on  your  time. 
[Cries  of  No,  no  !  Go  on  !]  I  am  taking  too  much  of  what 
belongs  to  others.  My  voice  is  neither  a  new  voice,  nor  is 
it  the  voice  of  a  young  man.  It  has  been  heard  before  in 
this  place,  and  the  most  that  I  have  thought  or  felt  concern- 
ing New  England  history  and  New  England  principles,  has 
been  before,  in  the  course  of  my  life,  said  here  or  elsewhere. 

Your  sentiment,  Mr.  President,  which  called  me  up  before 
this  meeting,  is  of  a  larger  and  more  comprehensive  nature. 
It  speaks  of  the  Constitution  under  which  we  live  ;  of  the 
Union,  which  for  sixty  years  has  been  over  us,  and  made  us 
associates,  fellow-citizens  of  those  who  settled  at  Yorktown 


32 

and  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  iheir  descendants,  and 
how,  at  last,  of  those  who  have  come  from  all  corners  of 
the  earth  and  assembled  in  California.  I  confess  I  have  had 
my  doubts  whether  the  republican  system  under  which  we 
live  could  be  so  vastly  extended  without  danger  of  dissolu- 
tion. Thus  far,  I  willingly  admit,  my  apprehensions  have 
not  been  realized.  The  distance  is  immense ;  the  interven- 
ing country  is  vast.  But  the  principle  on  which  our  Gov- 
ernment is  established,  the  representative  system,  seems  to 
be  indefinitely  expansive  ;  and  wherever  it  does  extend,  it 
seems  to  create  a  strong  attachment  to  the  Union  and  the 
Constitution  that  protects  it.  I  believe  California  and  New 
Mexico  have  had  new  life  inspired  into  all  their  people. 
They  consider  themselves  subjects  of  a  new  being,  a  new 
creation,  a  new  existence.  They  are  not  the  men  they 
thought  themselves  to  be, -now  that  they  find  they  are  mem- 
bers of  this  great  Government,  and  hailed  as  citizens  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  I  hope,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  as  this  system  of  States  and  representative  govern- 
ments shall  extend,  that  it  will  be  strengthened.  In  some 
respects  the  tendency  s  to  strengthen  it.  Local  agitations 
will  disturb  it  less.  If  there  has  been  on  the  Atlantic  coast, 
somewhere  south  of  the  Potomac — and  I  will  not  define 
further  where  it  is — if  there  has  been  dissatisfaction,  that 
dissatisfaction  has  not  been  felt  in  California ;  it  has  not 
been  felt  that  side  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  is  a  localism, 
and  I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  that  our  system  of  gov- 
ernment is  not  to  be  destroyed  by  localisms,  North  or 
South  1  [Cheers.]  No  ;  we  have  our  private  opinions. 
State  prejudices,  local  ideas  ;  but  over  all,  submerging  all, 
drowning  all,  is  that  great  sentiment,  that  always,  and  ne- 
vertheless, we  are  all  Americans.  It  is  as  Americans  that 
we  are  known,  the  whole  world  over.  Who  asks  what  State 
you  are  from,  in  Europe,  or  in  Africa,  or  in  Asia  ?  Is  he 
an  American — is  he  of  us  ?  Does  he  belong  to  the  flag  of 
the  country  ?  Does  that  flag  protect  him  ?  Does  he  rest 
under  the  eagle  and  the  stars  and  stripes  ?  If  he  does,  if  he 
is,  all  else  is  subordinate  and  worthy  of  but  little  concern. 
[Cheers] 

Now  it  is  our  duty,  while  we  live  on  the  earth,  to  cherish 
this  sentiment,  to  make  it  prevail  over  the  whole  country, 
even  if  that  country  should  spread  over  the  whole  continent. 


23 

It  is  our  duty  to  carry  English  principles — I  mean,  sir,  (said 
Mr.  Webster  turning  to  Sir  He\ry  Bulwer,)  Anglo-Saxon 
American  principles,  over  the  whole  continent — the  great 
principles  of  Magna  Charta,  of  the  English  Revolution,  and 
especially  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  of  the  English 
language.  Our  children  will  hear  Shakspeare  and  Milton 
recited  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  iNay,  before  that, 
American  ideas,  which  are  essentially  and  originally  English 
ideas,  will  penetrate  the  Mexican — the  Spanish  mind  ;  and 
Mexicans  and  Spaniards  will  thank  God  that  they  have  been 
brought  to  know  something  of  civil  liberty,  of  the  trial  by 
jury,  and  of  security  for  personal  rights. 

As  for  the  rest,  let  us  take  courage.  The  day-spring  from 
on  high  has  visited  us  ;  the  country  has  been  called  back,  to 
conscience  and  to  duty.  There  is  no  longer  imminent  danger 
of  dissolution  in  these  United  States.  [Loud  and  repeated 
cheers.]  We  shall  live,  and  not  die.  We  shall  live  as 
united  Americans  ;  and  those  who  have  supposed  that  they 
could  sever  us,  that  they  could  rend  one  American  heart 
from  another,  and  that  speculation  and  hypothesis,  that  se- 
cession and  metaph3'sics,  could  tear  us  asunder,  will  find 
themselves  dreadfully  mistaken.     [Cheers.] 

Let  the  mind  of  the  sober  American  people  remain  sober. 
Let  it  not  inflame  itself  Let  it  do  justice  to  all.  And  the 
truest  course,  and  the  surest  course,  to  disappoint  those  who 
meditate  disunion,  is  just  to  leave  them  to  themselves,  and 
see  what  they  can  make  of  it.  No,  gentlemen  ;  the  time 
for  meditated  secession  is  past.  Americans,  North  and 
South,  will  be  hereafter  more  and  more  united.  There  is  a 
sternness  and  severity  in  the  public  mind  lately  aroused.  I 
believe  that.  North  and  South,  there  has  been,  in  the  last 
year,  a  renovation  of  public  sentiment,  an  animated  revival 
of  the  spirit  of  Union,  and,  more  than  all,  of  attachment  to 
the  Constitution,  regarding  it  as  indispensably  necessary ; 
and  if  we  would  preserve  our  nationality,  it  is  indispensable 
that  the  spirit  of  devotion  should  be  still  more  largely  in- 
creased. And  who  doubts  it?  If  we  give  up  that  Con- 
stitution, what  are  we  ?  You  are  a  Manhattan  man  ;  I  am 
a  Boston  man.  Another  is  a  Connecticut,  and  another  a 
Rhode  Island  man.  Is  it  not  a  great  deal  better,  standing 
hand  to  hand,  and  clasping  hands,  that  we  should  remain  as 
we  have  been  for  sixty  years — citizens  of  the  same  country, 


94^ 


members  of  the  same  Government,  united  all — united  now 
and  united  forever  ?  That  we  shall  he,  gentlemen.  There 
have  been  difficulties,  contentions,  controversies — angry 
controversies  ;  but  I  tell  you  that,  in  my  judgment. 


"  those  opposed  eyes, 


Which,  like  the  meteors  of  a  troubled  heaven. 
All  of  one  nature,  of  one  subatance  bred, 
Did  lately  meet  in  th'  intestine  shock. 
Shall  now,  in  mutual  well-becoming  ranks, 
March  all  one  way." 

Mr.  Websteu,  on  closing,  was  greeted  with  the  most 
hearty,  prolonged,  and  tumultuous  applause. 

SPEECH  OF  SIR  HENRY  BULWER. 

"  Old  England  and  Yodng  America  : — Bound  together  by  a  common  language 
tnd  a  common  lineage,  may  they  be  still  more  firmly  united  by  the  ties  of  interest 
and  mutual  good  will." 

Sir  Henry  Bulwer  rose  amidst  loud  cheering  to  respond 
to  this  sentiment,  and  addressed  the  company  as  follows  : 

Gentlemen,  I  should  feel  wholly  unequal  to  addressing 
this  meeting,  which  is  yet  under  the  magic  influence  of  the 
voice  that  lately  thrilled  through  it.  if  I  did  not  know  that 
the  most  feeble  accents  will  always  be  heard  with  kindness 
when  it  is  seen  that  they  express  the  sentiments  of  esteem 
and  affection  with  sincerity.  [Cheers.]  I,  like  my  honor- 
able friend,  Mr.  Webster,  made  a  point  of  accepting  the 
invitation,  which  was  so  cordially  made  to  me,  and  of  at- 
tending this  meeting,  because  I  know  that  you  do  not  ex- 
pect in  me  the  buttoned-up  diplomatist,  but  the  Englishman, 
with  open  hand  and  heart,  who  would  tell  you  frankly  what 
the  feelings  and  thoughts  of  Englishmen  were  likely  to  be 
on  such  an  occasion  as  the  present.  [Cheers.]  I  am  but 
a  slender  representative  of  John  Bull,  [laughter,]  but  1  am 
an  honest  and  a  true  one — [cheers] — and  1  can  assure  you 
that  there  is  not  a  national  sentiment  in  my  mind  that  does 
not  sympathize  with  yours  on  this  great  solemn  anniversary. 
It  is  not  merely  that  the  moral  influence  of  the  small  island 
of  my  birth  will  probably  be  carried  by  the  event  which  we 
are  now  commemorating,  by  the  ways  of  plenty  and  along 
the  paths  of  peace,  further  than  the  name  of  Rome  was 


25 

ever  borne  by  her  crimson  eagles,  amidst  the  horrors  of  war 
and  the  devastations  of  conquest!  [Applause.]  It  is  also 
because  this  event  is  imperishably  connected  with  that  me- 
morable epoch,  from  the  great  thoughts  and  deeds  of  which 
has  been  distilled  the  spirit  which  yet  burns  in  the  breasts 
of  my  countrymen,  and  justifies  the  pride  which  1  feel  in 
having  their  principles  spread  and  their  renown  diffused 
throughout  the  world.  [Applause]  I  mean,  gentlemen, 
the  spirit  of  Liberty,  which,  then  created,  has  been  refined 
and  purified  by  subsequent  time  and  care  from  the  grosser 
and  more  turbulent  elements  which  might  have  been  at  first 
mixed  with  it,  [Applause.]  It  was  at  the  gloomy  dawn 
of  that  eventful  struggle  which  had  shortly  afterwards  to 
decide  whether  the  House  of  Stuart  should  be  absolute,  or 
the  people  of  England  should  be  free ! — It  was  in  the  reign 
of  James — a  little  after  Villiers  had  risen  into  favor.  Coke 
had  been  disgraced,  and  Raleigh  beheaded ; — and  a  little 
before  the  time  at  which  the  Parliament  met,  in  which  John 
Hampden,  the  young  squire  of  Buckinghamshire,  first  took 
his  seat  amidst  that  band  of  patriots,  whose  councils  he  was 
soon  to  direct  by  his  wisdom  and  animate  by  his  courage — 
that  there  might  have  been  seen  a  solitary  bark  taking  its 
adventurous  way  across  the  broad  waters  of  the  Atlantic  ; 
that  bark  was  freighted  with  nineteen  families,  who  asked 
no  other  recompense  for  their  past  sufferings  and  present 
daring  but  a  home — a  home — somewhere — anywhere,  in 
which  they  could  live  and  die  without  violating  the  dictates 
of  their  conscience.     [Applause.] 

After  some  peril  and  many  disappointments,  the  sacred 
vessel  at  last  entered  a  shallow  bay,  the  extended  arms  of 
which  seemed  to  welcome  its  approach  and  invite  its  stay. 
The  anchor  was  dropped — the  home  which  the  wanderers 
had  been  seeking — lay  before  them.  But,  as  my  honorable 
friend  (Mr.  Webster)  stated,  cofd  blew  the  wind,  barren 
was  the  shore,  and  not  far  distant  might  have  been  seen, 
through  the  bare  branches  of  surrounding  woods,  the  dark 
figure  of  the  Indian,  in  whose  savage  neighborhood  the 
hamlet  could  hardly  hope  to  sleep  in  peace,  or  the  husband- 
man to  labor  in  security.  There  are  few  instances  in  his- 
tory of  men  staying  their  footsteps  at  so  unpromising  a  spot. 
But  I  guess,  [much  applause  and  laughter,]  gentlemen,  that 
our  ancestors  were  plucky  fellows.  They  determined  to 
4 


26 

3efy  the  elements,  to  subdue  the  soil,  to  conquer  or  concili- 
ate the  wild  enemy  of  the  forest.  They  built  therefore  two 
rows  of  houses  on  a  gentle  eminence  with  a  store  house,  in 
the  midst.  Here  were  laid  the  first  foundations  of  New 
England's  greatness.     [Laughter.] 

And  now,  having  assisted  at  the  Pilgrim's  landing,  we 
have  only  to  measure  the  Pilgrim's  progress.  [Laughter 
and  cheers,]  It  may  be  measured  in  an  instant  by  Messrs. 
Coleman  and  Stetson's  bill  of  fare^  which  is  (holding  up 
the  bill  of  fare  amidst  great  applause  and  laughter]  as  good 
an  instrument  for  such  a  purpose  as  that  of  any  surveyor. 
What  was  the  festival  provided  at  the  arrival  of  the  third 
colony  which  came  out  to  join  their  Plymouth  brethren  ? 
A  lobster,  three  small  fishes,  and  some  spring  water.  It  is 
only  necessary  to  make  a  rule-of  three  sum.  What  the 
lobster  and  the  three  fishes  and  the  spring  water  were  to 
the  dinner  we  have  just  been  eating,  was  the  condition  of 
New  England  at  the  time  that  the  Pilgrims  landed  to  the 
condition  of  New  England  at  the  lime  at  which  I  am  speak- 
ing :  [applause.]  And  in  this  I  have  not  told  the  whole 
story — the  fish  were  bought,  and  not  caught ;  along  the 
whole  coast  there  was  not  at  that  time  a  single  line,  or  a 
hook,  or  a  net.  Hear  this,  ye  gentlemen  of  New  Bedford, 
from  whose  port  now  issue  forth  six  hundred  sail  of  ships, 
manned  by  sixteen  thousand  seamen,  to  catch  and  mono- 
polize the  capture  of  the  greatest  monsters  of  the  deep. 
[Applause  and  laughter.]  I  could  pursue  this  subject,  gen- 
tlemen, to  an  indefinite  length  ;  but  what  can  I  say  that  you 
do  not  know  ?  [Great  laughter.]  Yes  ;  you  all  know  that 
in  1630  the  whole  of  New  England  contained  but  300  white 
inhabitants,  a  number  which,  in  a  century  afterwards,  had 
increased  to  160,000,  and  may  at  this  day  be  given  at  nearly 
three  millions.  You  all  know  that  the  capital  of  New  Eng- 
land, in  1720,  contained  12,000  inhabitants  ;  in  1820,  43,000 ; 
in  1830,78,000;  and  in  1850,  156,000.  [Applause.]  You 
all  know  that  Boston,  in  1789,  was  proud,  very  proud,  of 
two  stage  coaches,  [much  laughter,]  which  employed  twelve 
horses;  that  she  was  prouder  still,  in  1800,  of  twenty-five 
stage  coaches,  which  employed  one  hundred  horses  ;  and 
that  in  1847  these  twenty-five  coaches  had  been  multiplied 
into  two  hundred  and  fifty  coaches  and  omnibuses,  employ- 
ing one  thousand  six  hundred  horses,  without  taking  into 


27 

account  seven  railways,  which  provided  daily  accommoda- 
tion for  seven  thousand  passengers.  You  all  know  that  the 
first  newspaper,  published  in  the  colonies,  was  published  in 
1701,  in  this  same  city  of  Boston,  and  that  a  third  newspa- 
per, published  in  the  same  town  in  1721,  under  the  title  of 
the  New  England  Courant,  could  not  maintain  itself,  though 
it  had  very  warm  advocates,  being  supported  by  the  Helljire 
Club,  fimmense  laughter;]  and  you  also  all  know  that  at 
this  moment  there  are  in  Boston  sixteen  daily  newspapers, 
with  a  daily  circulation  of  36,000  copies,  and  fifty  weekly 
newspapers,  with  a  weekly  circulation  of  223,000  ;  to  say 
nothing  of  semi-weekly  papers,  and  semi-monthly  papers, 
and  monthly,  and  quarterly,  and  annual  publications.  [Ap- 
plause. I  As  to  your  schools,  it  is  quite  useless  for  me  to 
say  a  word  about  them,  after  what  has  been  so  well  said  by 
my  honorable  friend  who  has  preceded  me,  (Mr.  J.  P.  Hall.) 
It  would  also  be  superfluous  in  me  to  launch  out  into  eulogy 
on  that  celebrated  university,  the  genial  daughter  of  my 
own  ^'  Alma  Mater"  [applause,]  to  which  all  the  youth  from 
the  various  quarters  of  this  great  confederation  resort,  and 
in  which  all,  as  I  understand,  are  formed 

"  For  Virtue's  nobler  view. 
By  precept,  and  example  too." 

I  say  little  or  nothing  of  these  things — you  are  acquainted 
with  them  all ;  but  I  must  bring  one  interesting  circum- 
stance, less  generally  understood,  before  your  attention,  viz : 
that  the  improvement  in  teaching;  in  travelling,  in  newspa- 
per-making, and  population-getting,  is  nothing  to  that  which 
is  taking  place  in  witchcraft.  [Laughter.]  Gentlemen,  I 
speak  the  truth.  In  1654  there  could  only  be  found, 
throughout  the  whole  of  New  England,  one  miserable  witch, 
by  name  Ann  Hibbins  ;  and  she  was  old,  ugly,  and  cross, 
and  therefore  naturally  enough  burnt,  [laughter,]  on  the 
plea  that  she  had  guessed,  [laughter  and  applause] — your 
folks  are  rather  given  to  shrewd  guessing — a  little  too  cor- 
rectly that  her  ill  deeds,  words,  and  looks  were  the  subject 
of  the  maledictory  comment  of  two  of  her  neighbors.  Now, 
in  1850,  gentlemen,  there  are  in  New  England  thousands  of 
females  notorious  for  their  witchery,  and  who,  instead  of 
being  aged,  loathsome,  and  repulsive,  are  young,  lovely, 
and  attractive, — [laughter  and  cheers] — w'tches  who,  in- 


28 

stead  of  being  committed  to  the  flames,  go  about  inflaming 
others,  [laughter,]  and  this  with  the  most  perfect  impunity, 
[laughter  and  cheers  ;]  though  they  are  perfectly  well  aware 
that  they  themselves  and  their  charms  are  the  daily,  hourly, 
constant  subject  of  conversation  to  all  who  have  the  pain- 
ful pleasure  of  being  acquainted  with  them.  [Laughter.] 
But  it  is  not  only  for  the  triumphs  of  beauty  that  fNew 
England  is  now  famous.  If  the  ivied  chaplet  is  still  the 
classic  meed  of  letters,  may  not  Lowell  and  Longfelllow, 
TicKNOR  and  Bryant  place  it  on  their  brow  ?  If  the  laurel 
belongs  to  those  who  worthily  narrate  as  well  as  to  those 
who  perform  great  deeds,  has  it  not  been  nobly  gained  by 
Sparks,  Bancroft,  and  Prescott  ?  [Cheers.]  If  a  high  and 
honorable  reputation  is  the  natural  reward  of  varied  ac- 
quirements and  brilliant  eloquence,  has  it  not  been  as  justly 
won,  as  it  is  modestly  worn,  by  the  accomplished  Everett? 
[Loud  cheering.  |  If  the  golden  days  of  republican  com- 
merce are  again  to  revive,  and  the  Medici  of  America  are 
to  vie  in  enterprise  and  munificence  with  those  of  Florence, 
may  I  not  inscribe  upon  the  list  of  your  lordly  merchants  the 
names  of  Griswold,  Grinnell,  and  Perkins  ;  of  Appleton, 
and  Lawrence  ?  And  if  you,  gentlemen,  are  all  anxious  to 
po.  sess  the  portrait  of  the  finished  gentleman  and  perfect 
Senator,  is  there  any  one  more  fit  to  sit  for  the  picture  than 
the  descendant  of  that  distinguished  Governor  who  enjoyed 
the  double  honor  of  having  contributed  to  the  first  school 
and  furnished  at  his  own  expense  the  first  vessel  which  be- 
longed to  that  State  of  which  your  Winthrop — our  Win- 
throp — is  the  actual  representative  ?  [Great  applause.] 
Nay,  if  I  extend  my  enquiry  still  further  ;  if  I  wish  to  dis- 
cover a  man  whose  young  imagination  was  ripened  amongst 
the  solitary  scenes  of  border  life,  and  whose  manly  judg- 
ment has  been  formed  amidst  the  daily  and  active  business 
of  great  communities,  can  you  not  point  out  to  me  such  a 
man — one  whose  eloquence  is  poetry  held  in  chains  by  rea- 
son ?  whose  statesmanship  is  philosophy  reduced  to  prac- 
tice ?  [immense  applause ;]  who  stand  second  to  none  of 
America's  children — I  should  say  superior  to  all,  if  the  tall 
and  venerable  figure  of  an  absent  friend  did  not  rise  up  before 
me — whose  star  shines  from  the  West,  as  yours,  sir,  [bow- 
ing to  Mr.  Webster,]  fills  the  East  of  that  hemisphere,  radi- 
ant on  all  sides  with  intellectual  light.     [Three  cheers.] 


29 

Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  toast  which  was  given  to 
you : 

"  Old  England  and  Young  America  :  Bound  together  by 

*  a  common  language  and  a  common  lineage — May  they  be 

*  still  more  firmly  united  by  the  ties  of  interest  and  mutual 
*good  will." 

Most  cordially  and  sincerely  do  I  reciprocate  to  this  toasl. 
Allow  me  to  say,  I  look  upon  this  rock  of  New  Plymouth 
(pointing  to  the  representation  in  sugar  on  the  table)  as  a 
true  chip  of  the  old  block  of  Old  England.  [Applause.! 
Your  parents  had  characteristics  which  are,  I  think,  still 
traceable  in  their  offspring,  (applause  ;)  nay,  your  toast  tells 
me  that  the  magnetic  influence  of  a  common  origin  is  not 
yet  extinct  between  them;  and  this  is  true.  You  honor 
our  great  men  at  this  day  as  we  honor  yours.  Never  can 
I  forget,  when  but  recently  I  stood  mourning  with  you  by 
the  grave  of  the  gallant  Taylor,  how  sincerely  you  shed 
with  me  the  sympathizing  tear  over  the  fate  of  the  illustri- 
ous Peel  !  (Great  applause.)  Well  do  we  know  (you  will 
say,  perhaps,  we  have  reason  to  know)  your  great  warriors 
on  sea  and  shore.  But  the  glorious  words  and  deeds  of 
Nelson  were  not  unknown  to  the  first,  and  I  have  myself 
heard  from  some  of  the  latter,  that  in  those  conflicts  in 
which  they  lately  gained  immortal  glory,  the  name  and  fame 
of  the  veteran  warrior,  who  has  borne  the  old  standard  of 
Marlborough  and  Wolfe  aloft,  and  triumphant,  through  a 
hundred  fights,  more  than  once  rushed  to  their  recollection, 
and  forecast  over  their  hearts  the  glorious  shadow  of  coming 
victory.  (Applause.)  Gentlemen,  I  respond  to  your  toast ; 
I  love  your  land,  and  with  your  land  I  cannot  but  on  this 
day  connect  that  plain  and  simple  sect  which  has  had  so 
great  an  influence  on  the  character  of  your  people.  I  do 
not  follow  their  ritual,  but  I  revere  their  history  ;  it  stands 
forth  as  one  of  the  loftiest  among  the  many  monuments 
which  attest  the  truth  of  that  great  Christian  moral :  "  The 
proud  shall  be  abased,  the  humble  exalted."  (Cheers.)  It 
convinces  us,  if  at  this  day  we  wanted  to  be  convinced,  that 
it  is  not  the  mere  will  of  arbitrary  Princes  nor  the  vain  bull 
of  arrogant  Pontiffs  that  can  lay  prostrate  the  independence 
of  the  human  mind.  All  assumption  only  breeds  resistance, 
as   all   persecution   only   makes   martyrs.      (Applause) — 


so 

Who,  indeed,  at  the  period  to  which  the  day  recalls  us,  were 
the  mighty  of  the  earth !  On  the  throne  of  England  then 
sat  a  prince  justly  proud — if  pride  could  ever  rest  upon 
sound  foundations — of  the  triple  crown  which  had  recently 
become  his  family  inheritance.  In  France  the  sceptre  was 
held  in  the  hands  of  a  still  haughtier  race,  which  ruled  with 
supreme  authority  over  the  most  gallant  and  chivalrous  peo- 
ple in  the  world.  What  has  become  of  the  illustrious  lines 
of  these  two  royal  houses — of  that  of  the  sovereign  who 
gloried  in  the"  non-conformity  bill,"  or  that  of  those  sove- 
reigns amongst  whose  deeds  are  recorded  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew  and  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  ? 
The  crown  of  the  Stuarts  has  melted  into  air  in  the  one 
kingdom  ;  the  sceptre  of  the  Bourbons  has  been  shattered  to 
atoms  in  the  other.  But  here,  on  this  spot  where  I  am 
speaking,  still  stands,  erect  and  firm,  the  Pilgrim's  staff. 
[Cheers.]  From  the  bruised  seed  of  the  poor  and  persecuted 
Puritan  has  arisen  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  prosperous 
empires  in  the  world.  Let  that  which  is  a  warning  unto 
others  be  a  lesson  unto  you. 

Remember  that  when  your  Pilgrim  Father's  first  started 
for  the  American  shores  they  trusted  themselves  to  two  ves- 
sels ;  the  one  boasted  in  the  proud  name  of  the  Speedwell, 
the  other  had  the  gentle  appellation  of  the  Mayflower,  which 
arrived  first  at  its  destination?  The  vaunting  Speedwell 
was  obliged  to  put  into  port,  while  the  modest  Mayflower 
dashed  gallantly  across  the  ocean.  [Applause.]  You  were 
simple  and  unpretending  in  the  day  of  your  weakness  ;  be 
never  vain  or  arrogant  in  the  day  of  your  strength.  You 
were  superior  to  your  adversity ;  you  have  only  to  be  equal 
to  your  prosperity.  [Great  Applause.]  And  if  you  ever 
wish  to  know  the  principal  cause  of  the  proud  position  you 
have  already  achieved,  you  may  look  for  it  confidently  among 
the  trials  and  difficulties  through  which  you  have  passed. 
Yes,  if  you  have  made  your  country,  believe  me  it  is  no  less 
true  that  your  country  has  made  you.  [Applause  and  laugh- 
ter.] There,  indeed,  is  the  distinguishing  peculiarity  of  our 
two  nations.  It  is  true  that  you  have  a  republican  form  of 
government ;  and  that  I  would  shed  the  last  drop  of  my  blood 
to  preserve  the  prerogatives  of  a  beloved  sovereign,  within 
the  sanctuary  of  whose  honored  privileges  I  see  best  pre- 
served the  liberties  of  myself  and  fellow-subjects      [Cheers.] 


31 

But  whatever  may  be  the  separate  polity  of  our  two  consti- 
tutions, one  thing  is  certain :  they  are  not  the  work  of  chance, 
theory,  or  imitation,  but  formed  upon  the  hard  anvil  of  patient 
fortitude — by  the  oft  repeated  and  well  tempered  stroke  of 

f)ractical  experience.  [Great  applause.]  In  this  circumstance 
ies  the  secret  of  that  tranquility  and  power  which  we  both 
enjoy.  If  valor  and  learning  could  alone  form  a  free  and 
strong  government,  it  might  have  been  planted  and  be  at 
this  day  enjoyed  in  those  neighboring  States  to  which  yoa. 
sir,  alluded,  [to  Mr.  Webster,]  founded  as  colonies  by  the 
majesty  of  ancient  Spain,  and  which  are  now  denominated 
republics.  If  wit,  ingenuity,  philosophy,  and  the  spirit  of  a  no- 
ble chivalry  sufficed  to  establish  such  a  government  firmly,  we 
should  be  relieved  from  the  fears  with  which  we  sometimes 
watch  the  tremulous  position  of  civil  authority  in  that  coun- 
try which  we  all  admire  and  love,  and  with  which  the  peace 
and  civilization  of  Europe  are  so  inseparably  connected. 
(Applause.)  If  metaphysical  lore,  honest  and  great  designs, 
the  general  diffusion  of  education,  and  the  profound  study 
of  military,  tactics  could  fit  a  people  at  once  for  such  a  go- 
vernment, we  should  not  be  perplexed  by  the  varying  ac- 
counts which  each  packet  brings  us  from  the  ancient  Ger- 
many, in  whose  fate,  as  Anglo-Saxons,  we  cannot  but  feel 
deepest  interest.  (Applause.)  But,  gentlemen,  I  grieve, 
whilst  I  rejoice  to  say  that  it  is  amidst  the  general  confusion 
of  crude  experiments,  terrible  uncertainties,  mystic  dreams, 
and  ripening  convulsions,  that  alone  and  singly  is  to  be  seen 
towering  the  common  Genius  of  Albion  and  of  Albion's 
transatlantic  children  No  tempest,  raised  in  the  heated  at- 
mosphere of  fantastic  theory,  clouds  her  brow ;  no  blood, 
spilt  in  civil  butchery,  bedaubs  her  garments ;  no  poisons, 
corroding  the  principles  of  public  and  domestic  morality, 
tear  her  vitals.  Serene  and  undisturbed  she  moves  onward 
firmly.  Trade  and  agriculture  strew  her  way  with  plenty; 
law  and  religion  march  in  her  van  ;  order  and  freedom  fol- 
low her  footsteps.  (Applause.)  Here,  at  this  solemn  moment, 
whilst  pouring  out  our  libations  to  the  sacred  memory  of 
our  sainted  fathers — here,  I  invoke  that  Genius  to  bless  the 
union  of  our  kindred  races;  to  keep  steadfast  in  our  hearts 
'  the  pleasant  recollections  of  the  past,  to  blend  gratefully  in 
our  minds  the  noble  aspirations  of  the  future,  to  hallow  in 
one  breath,  the  twin  altars  we  will  raise  in  common  to  Me- 


82 

mory  and  to  Hope  ! — to  "Old  England  and  Young  America  '^ 
Enthusiastic  cheering  followed,  the  band  playing  "  God 
save  the  Queen !'' 

SPEECH  OF  REV.  DR.  BETHUNE. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Bethune  wslS  called  out  by  the  chair,  to 
reply  to  the  following  toast : — 

"  Hospitable  Hollanders  :    Their  generous  aid  to  the  fathers  of  Nevr  England 
commands  the  everlasting  gratitude  of  their  sons." 

As  the  hour  was  late,  and  several  gentlemen  were  to 
speak  after  him,  he  was  necessarily  much  restricted  in  his 
remarks,  but  the  audience  marked  their  appreciation  of  his 
address  by  good-humored  applause  at  the  badinage  in  the 
opening  sentences,  and  by  earnest  attention,  interrupted  by 
enthusiastic  cheers,  as  he  proceeded.  At  the  close,  the 
assembly  rose  to  their  feet  and  continued  cheering  for  some 
time.  He  began  with  some  playful  reproaches,  that  soon 
put  him  and  the  company  upon  pleasant  terms. 

Mr.  President,  said  the  Dr.,  I  have  a  profound  respect  for 
the  memory  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England,  and 
for  this  association  of  their  late  posterity,  so  far  as  they 
imitate  the  virtues  of  those  fathers  ;  but  it  has  been  my  sore 
experience  rarely  to  make  a  compact  with  a  Yankee,  by 
which  I  have  not  been  taken  in.  And,  gentlemen,  (for,  Mr. 
President,  I  am  addressing  myself  to  the  company),  such  is 
the  case  now.  When  I  came  this  evening,  by  invitation  of 
your  committee,  to  join  your  festival,  your  President  showed 
me  a  toast,  but  a  little  way  down  the  list,  to  which  he  asked 
me  to  respond  in  a  few  words.  Yielding,  as  in  duty  bound, 
my  private  choice  to  constituted  authority,  I  consented, 
thinking  that,  immediately  after  a  good  dinner,  you  would 
be  good-natured  enough  to  receive  kindly  the  few  words 
I  might  find  to  say ;  and  now  he  calls  me  up  after  all  the 
stupendous  and  eloquent  things  which  have  been  said  and 
heard  during  the  last  two  hours  I  Gentlemen,  it  is  a  Yankee 
trick!  and  I  must  say  you  have  done  well  in  putting  him  at 
the  head  of  your  Society  of  New  Englanders,  for  I  now 


•33 

think,  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  thorough  type 
and  incarnation  of  Yankeeism  than  he.  He  reminds  me  of 
a  charncter  once  given  to  a  staid  Connecticut  deacon,  by 
one  of  his  cautious  neighbors:  "He  is  a  very  good  man 
God-ward,  but  man-ward  he  is  aleelle  kind  of  twisticated." 

Mr.  President,  you  had  scarcely  a  right  to  assign  me  the 
duty  of  answering  this  toast.  I  am  neither  a  New  Eng- 
Jander  nor  a  Hollander;  but  a  sort  of  hybrid — genealogi- 
cally a  Scotchman,  or  rather  a  Scotchman's  bairn,  and  only 
ecclesiastically  Dutch  But  I  am  ashamed  of  neither  my 
descent  nor  my  station;  for  I  consider  it  no  small  blessing 
to  be  at  once  a  Scotchman's  bairn  and  a  Dutch  Dominie. 
Indeed,  sir,  it  is  not  the  least  benefit  attending  such  occa- 
sions as  this,  that  it  brings  together,  as  your  guests,  honored 
representatives  of  the  different  Societies  comprising  the 
several  races  which  make  up  this  great  prosperous  Amer- 
ican people — the  Britons,  the  Irish,  the  French,  the  Germans, 
the  Hollanders,  the  Scandinavian — uhique  gentium.  For, 
with  all  deference  to  the  honorable  gentlemen  who  have 
spoken  before  me,  this  nation  of  ours  is  not  altogether  the 
child  of  Great  Britain ;  but,  while  as  one  of  British  blood, 
I  rejoice  in  the  share  that  blood  has  in  the  honor  of  our 
parentage,  I  rejoice  yet  more,  that  that  blood  has  been 
mingled  with  other  strains.  It  is  well  known  that  the  slock 
of  animals  is  improved  by  crosses.  British  blood  is  indeed 
our  admirable  stock — but  I  think,  sir,  we  have  improved  it 
by  crossing  the  breed.  At  any  rate,  I  have  this  advantage 
in  being  of  neither  class  named  in  the  toast,  that  I  can 
without  immodesty  speak  the  praises  of  both. 

You  have  done  well,  sir,  in  calling  to  mind  the  stay 
which  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  made  amidst  the  hospitable  Hol- 
landers, before  they  determined  upon  crossing  the  wide  sea 
to  "this  far  corner  of  the  earth  ;"  for,  with  all  the  gravity 
of  historical  truth,  it  may  be  asserted  that,  among  the  ele- 
ments of  the  greatness  and  success  of  your  fathers,  is  to  be 
reckoned,  not  among  the  least,  eleven  years  of  education  in 
Holland — especially  in  Leyden,  so  memorable  for  its  thou- 
sand martyrs  to  patriotism,  when  it  stood  like  a  Thermopy- 
lae on  a  plain  against  the  host  of  Spanish  invaders  ;  Leyden, 
afterwards  to  be  equally  celebrated  for  the  great  services 
of  its  University  to  learning.  For  consider,  sir,  the  time 
when  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  in  Leyden.  It  was  when, 
5 


u 

after  many  long  years  of  determined  war,  ihey  had  gained 
strength  fairly  to  establish  their  Republic  of  the  seven 
United  Provinces, — that  which  gave  your  fathers  the  pat- 
tern of  what  their  children  since  loved  so  well,  "a  Churcb 
without  a  Bishop  and  a  State  without  a  King."  It  is  true, 
the  Netherlanders  had  a  long  struggle  afterwards,  before 
their  Spanish  tyrants  were  forced  to  acknowledge  their 
independence ;  but  they  had  so  fairly  turned  the  tide  of  battle, 
that  Spain  was  glad  of  a  truce.  There  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
saw  in  healthful  exercise  those  great  principles  of  Constitu- 
tional freedom,  which  were  not  to  be  then  seen  in  their 
native  England,  and  which  were  not  to  be  seen  there  until 
England  had  cast  out  her  British  Stuart  and  called  a  Hol- 
lander to  her  throne.  Many  were  the  valuable  lessons  of 
sturdy  courage,  thrift,  enterprising  trade  and  religious  tol- 
eration, which  the  Pilgrims  there  must  have  learned  and 
brought  with  them  to  their  new  home;  but  the  best  and 
greatest,  was  that  which  in  subsequent  years  was  carried 
into  practice  by  their  children,  without  which  all  their  vir- 
tues, and  courage,  and  strength  could  have  availed  them 
little  in  their  struggle  with  the  old  country,  or  in  our  own 
country's  unparalleled  career, — that  of  a  Constitutional 
Union  of  Independent  Sovereign  States.  [Long  and 
enthusiastic  cheering.]  Whatever  may  have  been  the  ben- 
efits derived  from  the  English  Constitution,  this  Union  of 
Sovereign  States  was  not  one  of  them. 

Where,  Mr.  President,  was  the  birth- place  of  modern 
liberty?  Its  cradle  was  rocked  by  the  ocean  that  rolled  ita 
billows  upon  the  marshy  coast  of  the  Low  Countries.  Un- 
conquered,  and  determined  not  to  be  conquered,  yet  driven 
by  the  superior  tactics  of  Rome  from  the  higher  grounds 
towards  the  forest  of  Ardennes,  the  ancestors  of  these  Hol- 
landers had  planted  themselves  upon  the  little  muddy  islands 
that  rose  like  Oases  amidst  the  desert  of  waters.  There 
with  patient  desperate  industry,  they,  even  as  far  back  as 
near  the  beginning  of  Christianity,  built  separate  cities  upon 
piles,  and  threw  up  around  them  their  dykes,  each  year 
making  fresh  encroachments  upon  the  angry  sea.  Their 
cities  were  independent  and  sovereign  ;  but  a  wise  Provi- 
dence taught  them  for  themselves,  and /or  us,  the  necessity, 
and  advantage  of  Union.  Leagues  for  offence  and  defence 
against  their  various  enemies,  were  formed  among  them  at 


^  35 

very  early  periods,  many  centuries  before  the  union  of 
Utrecht,  wlien  ilie  system  was  brougiit  to  a  head,  and  be- 
fore the  Union  of  the  Swiss  Cantons  ;  and  to  this  policy  is 
to  be  attributed  their  remari<able  successes  in  commerce 
and  in  patriotic  war.  Without  it,  they  could  never  have 
risen  to  greatness,  but  must  have  remained  dwarfed,  con- 
flicting and  subjugated.  The  grand  idea  of  our  Union,  the 
greatest  blessing  of  God's  providence  to  us,  next  after  re- 
ligion and  the  English  language,  was  taken  from  Holland  ; 
and  from  the  large  share  which  New  England  minds  had  in 
the  construction  of  our  State  and  National  system,  we 
can  see  the  reason  of  Providence  in  sending  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  to  Holland,  for  such  a  term  of  years  before  they  set 
sail  to  found  a  free  State  in  a  new  land.  It  was  a  loyal, 
honest  adherence  to  such  a  national  compact,  which  enabled 
these  now  prosperous  states  to  achieve  their  national  and 
several  independence.  None  were  then  more  faithful  in 
adherence  to  this  principle  of  the  compact  than  the  New 
England  sons  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  To  this  same  prin- 
ciple these  United  Sovereign  States  owe  their  subsequent 
march  to  that  prosperity,  in  which  New  England  has  so 
largely  shared.  I  call  upon  you,  Mr.  President,  upon  you, 
gentlemen,  upon  all  New  Englanders,  to  walk  worthy  of 
their  lineage.  You  celebrate  the  virtues  of  your  noble  an- 
cestors, prove  your  legitimate  descent  by  imitating  them. 
The  great  characteristic  attribute  of  the  Puritans,  the  foun- 
ders of  New  England,  was  a  stern,  unwavering  adherence 
to  principle,  high,  self-sacrificing,  God-fearing,  immortal 
DUTY.  Again,  I  call  upon  their  children  to  live,  act  and  en- 
dure like  them. 

In  other  sections,  of  warmer  climates,  less  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, and  above  all,  of  education  wanting,  in  many 
qualities,  the  moral  training  enjoyed  by  the  New  Englander, 
we  may  expect  to  see  the  impulses  of  a  hasty,  hot  tempera- 
ment breaking  forth  in  loud,  angry  threatenings  ;  but  the 
inhabitants  of  the  colder  North,  the  men  taught  from  their 
youth  the  calm  caution,  and  far-reaching  calculation  be- 
queathed to  them  by  the  men  and  women  of  Plymouth  Rock, 
should  never  be  carried  about  with  every  wind  of  frantic 
excitement  or  exaggerated  passion.  Treason  everywhere 
is  dangerous,  aye,  infamous — but  in  New  England  doubly 
no  ;  for  if  treason  and  disunion  are  rampant  and  paramount 
in  New  England,  Good  night  to  Liberty! 


30 

[Here  the  assembly  broke  out  into  such  protracted  cheers, 
that  it  was  sometime  before  the  Dr.  could  go  on.  Resum- 
ing, he  said,]  Mr.  President,  where  is  the  New  Englander 
now  !  not  alone  in  New  England,  but  here,  everywhere 
throughout  these  States.  Take  away  the  bond  of  our  Union, 
and  the  wars  which  must  inevitably  follow  will  be  fratri- 
cidal, CAiN-like.  Our  friendships  will  be  drowned  in  blood ; 
our  commerce,  with  a  rich  freight  of  blessings  for  all  na- 
tions, will  founder  ;  and  our  now  harmonious  system  of  free 
principles  be  resolved  into  a  blind,  bloody  chaos.  But  this 
cannot,  shall  not  be.  The  God  of  our  fathers  will  not 
suffer  it  to  be.  Already  in  the  sentiments  of  this  meeting, 
in  the  voices  which  have  come  to  us  from  every  quarter  of 
the  compass,  we  have  the  prophetic  oracles  of  safety.  I 
have  spoken  too  long,  Mr.  President,  and  must  end  my  re- 
marks— but  let  it  be  in  the  words  of  that  one  true  Book, 
which  your  Fathers  brought  with  them  in  the  May  Flower, 
as  their  best  treasure  : — "  Out  of  the  South  cometh  the  whirl- 
wind T — "  Fair  weather  cometh  out  of  the  North." 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  DRAPEH- 

The  President  havirg  made  a  call  upon  Mr.  Draper,  the 
first  Vice-President,  that  gentleman  arose  and  addressed  the 
company  as  follows : 

Mr.  President  you  call  upon  me  for  something  from  my 
end  of  the  table,  and  having  been  elected  to  the  honorable 

fosition  I  now  hold,  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  this  Society, 
feel  it  a  privilege  at  this  stage  of  the  festival,  to  answer 
the  demand  which  has  been  made  upon  me. 

Every  member  here  present  cannot  but  recollect,  and  that 
too,  with  pleasure,  the  distinguished  gentleman,  who  of  late, 
and  until  to-day,  has  so  ably  maintained  the  position  now 
occupied  by  me.  That  position  was  held  by  him  for  almost 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  be  borne 
with,  while  I  advert  for  a  moment  to  that  Officer's  great 
worth,  as  a  man;  to  his  devotion  to  the  best  interests  of  this 
Society,  and  the  assiduous  attention  with  which  they  were 
watched. 

After  this  remark  I  need  hardly  suggest  the  name  of  the 
individual  to  whom  I  refer,  for  the  name  of  Thomas  Fes- 
S£NDEN  will  instantly  spring  to  the  lips  of  every  true-heart- 


cd  son  of  New  England.  His  native  land,  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  his  native  land,  never  had  an  advocate  more  earnest 
and  sincere,  nor  a  friend  more  steadfast  and  inalienable. 

1  cannot  expect,  Mr.  President,  to  be  regarded,  in  my 
present  position,  in  the  light  in  which  he  was  held  ;  nor  to  be 
honored  as  he  was  honored, — since  my  merits  are  so  im- 
measurably inferior  to  his;  but  I  will  say,  gentlemen,  now, 
and  here,  that  if  each  of  the  descendents  of  the  Puritan 
Fathers  had  been  as  earnest  and  unwearying  in  the  preserva- 
tion and  transmission  of  their  peculiar  habits,  manners,  and 
opinions,  as  your  late  Vice-President  was,  then  the  vir- 
tues, the  principles  and  attachments  of  your  ancestors,  would 
have  fallen  like  a  mantle,  thrice  blessed,  upon  their  descen- 
dants, the  sure  ensign  of  their  faith,  and  the  true  pledge  of 
their  devotion.  That  gentleman  always  stood  forth  the  ar- 
dent champion  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  ;  and  following  with  a 
firm  step  in  the  broad  paths  of  their  patriotism,  truth,  firm- 
ness and  religion,  he  has  won  an  enviable  Pilgrim  reputa- 
tion, by  his  consistent  and  unwavering  adherence  to  the 
sound  doctrines  of  his  ancestors. 

1  trust  he  has  not  left  us,  except  for  a  brief  space.  I 
claim  him  as  a  prominent  and  permanent  member  of  this  So- 
ciety, to  the  end  of  his  life.  Standing  in  strong  contrast  to 
him  who  now  occupies  the  place  he  once  honored,  his  pre- 
sence will  be  sure  to  be  missed,  when  I  shall  attempt  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  which  were  once  so  well  fulfilled  by  him. 

I  hope,  however,  he  may  be  spared  many,  many  years  of 
health  and  prosperity,  to  act  with  us  in  council,  and  while 
preparing  the  way  for  the  generations  which  are  to  follow  ; 
his  own  example  will  adorn  our  gommon  birth-place  by  its 
own  truth,  integrity  and  honor. 

Mr.  President,  I  now  take  occasion  to  introduce  to  you, 
and  the  members  of  the  Society,  who  are  here  present,  a 
gentleman  who  has  just  come  to  you  direct  from  the  celes- 
tial Empire ;  a  hard-handed  and  open-hearted  mariner, 
"  whose"  path  "  is  on  the  mountain  wave,  whose  home  is  on 
the  deep."  I  announce  to  you  the  name  of  Capt.  McMichael. 
of  Philadelphia,  who,  after  an  absence  of  more  than  twelve 
months,  from  his  native  land,  comes  circling  back  to  us  by 
that  Cape,  whose  name  suggests  toman  all  that  there  is  of 
comfort,  all  that  there  is  of  promise.  He  brings  with  him  a 
generous  soul,  full  of  charity  for  human  infirmities  and  hu- 


88 

man  misfortunes,  an  open  hand,  ready  to  succor  the  distress- 
ed and  forlorn.  [A  good  natured  voice.  Is  he  a  Union-man. J 

Mr.  Dhaper.  a  Union-man  !  Where  can  you  find  a  true 
hearted  being  that  is  not?  Is  there  an  American  heart, 
throbbing  in  an  American  bosom,  which  has  one  pulsation, 
that  does  not  beat  true  to  the  American  Union  ?  Show  me 
one  son  of  this  fiee  clime  of  ours,  who  does  not  repudiate 
with  indignation  and  scorn,  the  very  thought  of  disunion. 
Disunion  !  away  far  with  such  suicidal  folly.  Who  is  there 
possessed  of  reason  ;  who  is  there  gifted  with  thought,  that 
dares  lift  his  head  upward  towards  God's  starry  firmament, 
and  cut  in  open  day,  the  cord  which  binds  this  Union  to- 
gether  ?  Its  severence  would  bury  him  and  his  children, 
and  his  children's  children  into  ruin  so  dark  and  enduring, 
that  he  might  well  call  for  the  earth  to  fall  upon  him  and  bury 
his  deep  disgrace  in  her  bosom,  forever. 

Talk  of  disunion  !  No  man  dares  to  breathe  the  thought 
in  the  lowest  whisper.     No !  No !  No  ! 

Let  politicians,  demagogues,  or  incendiaries  but  bring 
themselves  to  that  fatal  point,  where  they  are  ready  to  leap 
into  the  gulf  of  disunion,  and  the  involuntary  swell  of  ex- 
cited indignation  coming  from  an  outraged  people,  would 
overwhelm  them  with  its  waves,  far  beyond  the  reach  of 
human  rescue. 

When  I  think  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  of  the  Union  which  is  secured  by  it.  I  would  speak  of 
them  as  of  holy  things  ;  I  would  say  "touch  not,"  "  handle 
not;"  but  with  hearts  glowing  with  patriotic  virtue,  and 
hands  made  strong  in  a  good  cause,  hold  fast  the  stars  and 
stripes,  as  one  and  inseperable, and  then  peace  and  harmony, 
covered  by  ihe  soaring  ensign  of  the  Union,  may  be  pre- 
served and  made  safe  forever. 

SPEECH    OP   GEN.   J.  WATSON  WEBB. 

In  response  to  a  toast  from  the  chair,  in  honor  of  "  The 
Press,"  Gen.  J.  Watson  Webb,  being  called  upon,  spoke  as 
follows : — 

For  twenty  years  past,  Mr.  President — and  it  perhaps 
•would  not  be  wise  to  say  for  how  much  longer  a  period — 
I  have  been  accustomed  to  hear  the  same  toast  given  at  our 
public  dinners ;  and  not  unfrequently  has  it  fallen  to  my  lot 


90 

to  reply  to  it.  I  am  quite  sure,  however,  that  I  have  never 
yet  heard  any  reply  v^'hich  had  the  slightest  bearing  upon 
the  toast ;  and  most  assuredly,  I  have  never  made  any  such 
reply.  The  custom  has  been,  to  return  thanks  lor  the  honor 
done  the  Press  ;  and  then  launch  ofT  upon  whatever  topic 
the  occasion  or  the  hour  might  suggest.  Such,  sir,  was 
my  intention  when  I  came  here  to-night.  I  placed  in  my 
pocket  a  senlimeit — almost  a  speech  in  itself — which  I  de- 
termined to  let  off  whenever  the  occasion  offered.  I  intend 
by  these  remarks  no  disrespect  to  those  who,  from  time  to 
time,  have  responded  to  the  toast  in  honor  of  the  Press,  he- 
cause  1  well  know  that  it  has  its  origin  in  a  feeling  of  del- 
icacy which  forbids  any  member  of  the  Press  either  laudinpj 
the  profession  to  which  he  belongs,  or  setting  himself  up  as 
the  mentor  of  abler  and  better  men.  In  the  very  nature  of 
things,  sir,  the  member  of  the  Press  who  responds  to  such  a 
toast  as  that  which  has  called  me  to  the  floor,  most  natu- 
rally discovers,  that  both  duty  and  inclination,  compel  him 
to  wander  from  the  subject. 

I  trust  however,  Mr.  President,  that  I  will  be  excused  by 
the  members  of  the  Press  who  are  now  present,  as  well  as 
by  those  who  may  become  advised  of  what  I  am  about  to 
say,  if  yielding  to  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  arising  from 
the  patriotic  sentiments  and  eloquent  thoughts  which  have 
been  scattered  broadcast  among  us  to-night,  I  depart  en- 
tirely from  custom  on  this  occasion  ;  and  treating  it  as  one 
more  "  honored  in  the  breach  than  the  observance,"  speak 
directly  to  your  very  flattering  toast.  I  hold  too,  that  I  am 
privileged  so  to  do,  by  my  long  connection  with  the  Press, 
if  not  by  any  claim  I  can  set  up  for  seniority  in  years  as 
well  as  service.  (A  voice — "  Why  you  are  a  '  silver  grey.'  ") 
Only  in  appearance,  Mr.  President ;  and  appearances  are 
frequently  deceptive.  I  am  not  old  enough  to  belong  to  that 
new  brotherhood  of  whigs  ;  but  I  am  sufficiently  well  known, 
I  trust,  to  speak  to,  and  of  the  Press,  in  the  language  of  re- 
monstrance and  of  censure,  without  subjecting  myself  to 
the  imputation  of  assumption,  or  of  giving  offence,  where 
most  assuredly,  none  is  intended. 

A  free  and  independent  Press,  is,  Mr.  President,  as  the 
sentiment  you  just  read  so  truly  sets  forth,  "the  palladium 
of  our  liberties."  That  the  Press  of  this  country  is  free  as 
air,  we  all  know;  and  we  know  too,  that  its  freedom  not 


40 

unfrequfently,  degenerates  into  licentiousness.  This  h^vr- 
ever,  is  an  evil  which  will  in  tiine,  correct  itself;  and  I 
would  therefore,  hnve  its  freedom  within  the  law,  remain 
forever  untrainmeied,  except  by  public  opinion  and  the  lejja! 
rights  of  individuals.  But  is  the  Press  of  our  country 
always  "independent?"  Does  it  on  all  occasions,  speak 
fearlessly  the  sentiments  and  opinions  of  those  who  conduct 
it?  or  does  it  not  too  frequently — I  had  almost  asked — 
does  it  not  very  generally,  forget  its  high  mission ;  and  in- 
stead of  expounding  the  well^ettled  theory  of  our  govern- 
ment and  the  never-dying  principles  upon  which  it  is  based, 
does  it  not  bow  submissively  to  the  public  opinion  of  its  im- 
mediate vicinage,  and  become  the  slave  of  that  public  opinion, 
be  it  right  or  wrong,  instead  of  the  fearless  advocate  of 
truth?  Sir,  I  proclaim  it  in  sorrow  rather  than  censure  ; 
and  I  dare  to  proclaim  it — well  knowing  that  the  truth  is  not 
always  palatable — that  the  very  evjis  which  at  this  moment 
press  upon  the  country,  and  which,  during  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  past  year,  have  caused  an  extraordinary  excitement, 
and  induced  even  calm  men  to  apprehend  a  disruption  of 
this  glorious  Union,  have  their  existence  in  the  fact — that 
the  Press  has  not  been  true  to  itself,  to  its  exalted  mission, 
and  to  the  principles  of  our  admirable  Constitution, 

Look  to  the  north  and  the  south — to  the  east  and  the 
west ;  and  mark  how  uniformly  the  Press  sends  forth  sen- 
timents and  opinions  in  exact  conformity  with  the  public 
opinion  by  which  it  happens  to  be  surrounded,  whether  or 
not  that  public  opinion  be  sound  or  unsound — in  conformity 
with,  or  in  opposition  to  the  conditions  of  Union,  and  the 
compromises  and  concessions  to  which  our  fathers  yielded, 
and  without  which,  this  glorious  fabric  would  never  have 
been  called  into  being. 

No  man  respects  public  opinion  more  than  I  do — no  one 
is  more  disposed  to  leave  it  free,  uncontrolled  and  unbiassed, 
save  by  the  light  of  reason  and  the  force  of  truth  ;  but  yet  I 
feel  and  know,  that  public  opinion  is  not  always  sound — 
that  vox  populi  is  not  always  vox  Dei — and  that  it  is  the 
highest  duty  of  the  Press,  to  present  the  truth  as  it  is — to 
do  battle  for  great  principles,  and  as  far  as  in  it  lies,  to 
create  and  maintain,  and  defend  a  sound  public  opinion,  in- 
stead of  tamely  yielding  to  that  which  may  happen  to  exist 
in  its  immediate  vicinity,  and  which  is  too  apt  to  be  the 


41 

consequence  of  the  successful  arts  of  the  designing  dema- 
gogue, or  the  offspring  of  honest  but  deluded  fanatics,  f 
would  not  claim  for  the  Press  the  right  of  leading  public 
opinion  ;  but  I  would  claim  for  it  entire  independence,  and 
I  would  exact  from  it  a  strict  adherence  to  great  principles, 
and  a  fearless  defence  of  truth,  regardless  of  popular  opinion  j 
and  thereby,  ultimately  increase  the  soundness  of  that  pop- 
ular opinion,  in  defiance  of  the  arts  of  demagogues  or  the 
misdirected  enthusiasm  of  an  honest  but  dangerous  fanati- 
cism. An  honest  difference  of  opinion  among  men  and 
between  able  and  honestly  conducted  Presses,  is  always  to 
be  expected ;  and  no  man  respects  more  sincerely  than  I 
do,  the  adversary  who  honestly  differs  with  me,  and  fear- 
lessly defends  his  opinions.  But  when  I  perceive  whole 
communities  in  one  section  of  the  country,  holding  to  a  cer- 
tain set  of  opinions  ;  and  entire  communities  in  another 
section,  uniting  in  precisely  opposite  sentiments ;  and  the 
Press  in  both  instances,  heading  the  public  opinion  by  which 
it  happens  to  be  surrounded — I  cannot  resist  the  conclusion, 
that  the  Press  is  not  so  independent  as  it  should  be,  and  that 
this  state  of  public  opinion,  arises  mainly  from  its  having 
neglected  its  duty  of  laboring  to  create  a  sound  public  sen- 
timent, instead  of  yielding  to  that  which  has  its  origin  in  a 
less  legitimate  source 

Another  and  a  leading  error  of  the  Press,  in  my  judgment, 
is  its  constant  habit  of  undervaluing  the  character  of  our 
people  and  their  peculiar  fitness  for  self-government,  by  its 
readiness  to  believe  that  every  other  people,  are  just  as  well 
qualified  to  govern  themselves  as  we  are ;  and  by  hailing 
every  attempt  at  revolution  in  Europe  as  the  struggle  for 
freedom  of  men  and  races,  about  to  burst  their  chains  and 
establish  for  themselves  governments  similar  to  our  own. 
A  greater  delusion  than  this,  never  was  conceived  by  intel- 
ligent men ;  nor  do  I  know  anything  better  calculated  to 
depreciate  in  the  estimation  of  our  people,  the  inestimable 
blessings  which  they  enjoy,  and  the  value  of  our  great  and 
glorious  Union  and  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty upon  which  it  is  based,  and  the  intelligence  by  which 
alone  it  is  to  be  sustained. 

We  are  indeed  a  peculiar  people.  No  sane  man  will 
pretend  to  deny,  that  to  our  common  schools  and  our  almost 
6 


4t 

universal  educational  system,  we  are  to  look  for  the  contin- 
uance of  our  ability  to  govern  ourselves  ;  and  yet  it  will  be 
as  freely  admitted  by  every  man  of  reflection,  that  even  the 
admirable  educational  system  under  which  we  live,  and  which 
is  necessary  to  perpetuate  our  institutions,  have  not  made 
us  what  we  are.  These  are  the  means  by  which  we  are 
to  continue  our  system  of  government,  not  the  causes  which 
called  it  into  being.  Those  causes,  as  we  have  been  told 
to-night  in  language  far  more  eloquent  than  any  which  I  can 
command,  have  their  origin  in  the  land  and  the  race  from 
which  our  fathers  sprung — in  their  claim  to  the  Saxon's 
right  of  trial  by  jury — to  his  love  of  personal  liberty  and 
equal  laws — and  to  his  inheritance  never  yielded,  of  wor- 
shipping his  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience. 
With  these  feelings  deeply  implanted  in  their  hearts,  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  whose  landing  on  the  rock  of  Plymouth  we 
are  this  evening  assenibled  to  commemorate,  and  the  equally 
devoted  friends  of  freedom  who  came  from  the  free  cities  of 
Holland,  planted  in  this  western  world  the  seeds  of  that 
liberty,  which  I  fondly  trust,  will  never  be  forfeited  by  their 
descendants.  They  found  here,  a  new  world  fresh  from  the 
hands  of  its  maker;  they  explored  a  wilderness  till  then 
untrod  by  the  foot  of  Christian  man;  and  they  were  left 
to  encounter  all  the  hardships  and  privations  to  which 
a  rigorous  climate,  disease  and  starvation,  could  expose 
them.  Contending  alike  with  savage  man  and  with  the 
beasts  of  the  forest — with  cold,  hunger,  disease,  and 
even  with  death  itself — they  planted  here  the  tree  of 
liberty,  and  watered  it  with  a  patience  and  endurance, 
which  were  only  equalled  by  their  love  of  religious  freedom 
and  their  never-failing  reliance  upon  the  providence  of  God. 
They  grew  by  the  neglect  of  the  parent  state.  A  mere 
handful  of  adventurers  upon  a  vast  continent,  they  partook 
of  the  character  of  the  land  which  had  given  them  a  home 
and  the  freedom  which  they  coveted.  Self-government,  of 
necessity,  became  a  part  of  their  very  natures ;  it  flows  as 
it  were  in  the  systems  of  their  descendants  ;  and  not  only  is 
self-government  a  political  right  which  is  inherited  from  our 
fathers,  but  is  a  part  and  parcel  of  our  very  selves.  It  is 
in  our  systems,  circulating  in  our  blood,  and  a  part  and  parcel 
of  our  animal  natures  as  it  is  of  our  political  inheritance ;  and 
when  we  admit  for  a  moment,  that  every  other  people  are 


43 

capable  of  self-government,  simply  because  we  are,  we  do 
great  injustice  to  ourselves,  and  teach  our  people  to  under- 
value the  greatest  inheritance  ever  bequeathed  to  man. 
Most  gladly  would  I  see  all  mankind  enjoying  similar  insti- 
tutions. But  I  have  travelled  over  most  of  Europe,  and  I 
have  seen  there,  Man  as  he  is.  I  have  mingled  with  him  in 
the  Palace  and  the  Hovel ;  and  I  would  be  wanting  in  truth 
if  I  did  not  proclaim,  no  matter  how  unwelcome  the  intelli- 
gence, that  nowhere — not  even  in  enlightened  England — 
the  land  whence  the  Pilgrim  fathers  came,  freighted  with  their 
ever-living  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty — is  man 
capable  of  self-government.  From  time  to  time,  portions  of 
the  people  have  made,  and  will  continue  to  make,  spasmodic 
efforts  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  their  rulers.  And  not  unfre- 
quently  do  they  succeed.  But  it  is  only  to  effect  a  change 
in  their  masters.  They  are  deficient  in  the  intelligence  ne- 
cessary for  self-government ;  they  are  without  the  training 
which  it  requires ;  and  they  lack  that  love  of  liberty  and  re- 
liance upon  self,  which  peculiar  training  and  an  extraordi- 
nary combination  of  circumstances,  gave  to  our  fathers,  and 
which  have  been  the  inheritance  of  their  children.  [A 
Voice — '*  Look  at  Republican  France."]  Yes,  look  at 
France — but  not  at  "  Republican  France."  There  is  no 
Republic  in  France.  It  is  a  gigantic  military  despotism, 
more  hostile  to  liberty  than  either  of  the  dynasties  which 
preceded  it ;  and  most  ardently  do  I  pray,  that  France  may 
speedily  go  back  to  a  well  regulated  monarchy,  or  even 
to  the  Empire  itself.  Either  change  would  be  far  preferable 
to  the  existing  military  despotism  ;  and  what  is  of  far  greater 
moment  in  my  judgment,  until  France  does  return  to  a  mo- 
narchical government,  there  can  be  no  settled  peace  in  Eu- 
rope, and  the  people  cannot  even  enjoy  the  benefits  of  limited 
and  well  regulated  monarchies  Republics  cannot  exist  in 
Europe  ;  and  just  so  long  as  they  are  struggled  for,  the  arm 
of  despotic  power  is  strengthened,  and  the  people  deprived 
of  what  they  could  easily  achieve — well  regulated,  consti- 
tutional monarchies.  When  the  Republican,  ignorant  of  every 
thing  which  the  name  imports,  ceases  his  strife  for  what  is 
impracticable  ;  and  when  the  agrarian  and  the  socialist,  are 
driven  into  the  obscurity  from  which  they  sprung,  and  are 
taught  that  licentiousness  is  not  liberty — the  true  friends  of 
human  advancement,  will  be  able  to  secure  to  the  masses  all 


44 

tlie  liberty  they  require,  and  all  they  are  capable  of  enjoying, 
by  every  where  establishing  constitutional  monarchies.  It 
is  not  wise  then,  for  the  Press  of  this  country,  to  call  upon  the 
people  of  Europe,  to  imitate  our  example.  They  are  not 
capable  of  so  doing ;  and  the  only  effect  of  this  constant 
effort  to  accomplish  an  impossibility,  is  to  lessen  our  people 
in  their  own  estimation,  by  teaching  them  to  undervalue 
our  own  glorious  institutions,  and  their  own  great  qualities 
by  which  those  institutions  are  maintained. 

One  more  topic,  Mr.  President,  and  1  have  done.  An^ 
other  and  not  a  trifling  evil,  of  constant,  daily  recurrence, 
through  carelessness  in  the  Press,  is  the  habit  of  speak- 
ing of  the  States  of  this  Union  as  "  Sovereign."  Even 
to-night,  I  heard  the  Rev.  gentleman,  who  so  justly 
complimented  our  Dutch  progenitors,  commit  this  very 
common  mistake  when  speaking  of  'the  States  of  the 
Union.  It  is  a  most  mischievous  source  of  error ;  and 
its  consequences  are  becoming  apparent  in  the  folly,  if  nat 
the  treason,  of  South  Carolina.  Mr.  President,  I  deny,  in 
toto,  the  allegation  that  the  individual  States  are  Sovereign  ; 
and  I  indulge  the  hope,  that  the  Press  will  abandon  the  habit 
of  so  styling  them.  The  prominent  attributes  of  sovereignty, 
are  the  right  to  wage  war  and  to  make  peace  ;  to  enter 
into  treaties  with  foreign  powers,  to  carry  on  intercourse 
between  nations,  to  regulate  commerce,  to  coin  money,  and 
to  maintain  armies  and  navies.  These  I  say,  are  promi- 
nent among  the  powers,  rights  and  privileges  oi  Sovereignty ; 
and  the  State  which  possesses  not  each  and  every  of  these 
attributes,  and  a  host  of  others  unnecessary  to  mention,  is 
no  more  sovereign  than  this  metropolis  is  sovereign.  And 
yet  each  and  every  of  these  attributes  of  sovereignty,  were 
surrendered  by  the  States,  in  forming  that  glorious  Union, 
which  is  alike  the  source  of  all  their  prosperity,  the  element 
of  their  greatness,  and  the  ark  of  their  safety — their  security 
from  internal  commotion,  and  their  protection  from  aggression 
from  without.  A  Union,  which  is  the  pride  and  glory  of  every 
patriot  in  the  land,  and  the  admiration  of  every  lover  of 
freedom  throughout  the  world.  Long  may  it  continue  one 
and  indissoluble  ;  and  to  insure  this  greatest  of  blessings, 
the  Press  must  not  be  unmindful  of  its  duty  to  the  Union 
and  to  the  Constitution  upon  which  it  is  based.  It  must 
pot  bow  to  the  sectional  popular  feeling  which  demagogues 


45 

and  fanatics  too  frequently  create  around  it ;  it  must  not 
undervalue  the  degree  of  intelligence,  and  the  peculiar  expe- 
rience and  habit  of  thought  which  alone  qualify  men  for 
self-government ;  and  above  all,  it  must  not  indulge  in  the 
absurdity  of  speaking  of  the  States  of  our  Union,  as  sepa- 
rate and  independent  Sovereignties. 

I  beg  pardon,  Mr.  President,  for  thus  long  occupying  the 
attention  of  the  company ;  and  ask  leave  to  conclude  with 
the  following  sentiment,  which,  as  I  have  already  said,  is 
nearly  a  speech  in  itself. 

"The  Unitep  States  of  America.  A  Union  of  Independent  Republics,  in 
which  was  merged  forever,  the  separate  sovereignty  of  each.  A  Union  of  States  de- 
signed to  be  perpetual,  and  entered  into  with  deliberation,  for  the  preservation  of  the 
liberties  won  l)y  the  valor  and  consecrated  by  the  blood  of  our  fathers.  A  Union  of 
States  and  of  People,  originating  in  the  patriotism  and  wisdom  of  those  who  achieved 
oar  independence — based  upon  compromise  and  concession,  and  which  can  only  be 
preserved  in  its  purity  by  an  honorable  adherence  to  the  principles  in  which  it  orif;i- 
nated;  but  nevertheless,  a  Union  and  a  Nation  which  recognises  no  power  of 
Dissolution,  anifrom  which.  Secession  is  absolutely  impossiSle. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


The  Committee  on  Invitations,  (Messrs.  Stetson  and  Wyman,)  sent 
Letters  to  many  distinguished  individuals,  from  whom  the  following 
replies  were  received : — 

[Frmn  His  Excellency,  Millard  Fillmore,  President  of  United  States.] 

Washington,  Dec.  20,  1860. 
Dear  Sir : — 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  invitation  which 
you  sent  me  on  behalf  of  the  New  England  Society,  in  the  city  of  New- 
York,  to  attend  their  anniversary  dinner  on  the  23d  inst.  I  beg  leave  to 
tender  to  the  Society  my  thanks  for  this  mark  of  their  respect,  and  to 
express  my  regret  that  public  duties  put  it  out  of  my  power  to  comply 
with  their  kind  request. 

Truly  yours, 

MILLARD  FILLMORE. 
C.  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 

[From  Hon.  Alex.  H.  H.  Stuart,  Secretary  of  the  Interior.] 

Washington  City,  Dec.  16,  1860. 
Mr.  C.  A.  Stetson,  New  York. 

Dear  Sir : — Your  letter  of  the  7th  instant,  inviting  me  on  behalf  of  the 
New  England  Society,  to  attend  their  anniversary  dinner,  at  the  Astor 
House,  in  the  city  of  New-York,  on  the  23d  inst.,  has  been  received,  and 
I  have  delayed  answering  it  in  the  hope  that  my  response  could  be  made 
in  person,  instead  of  by  letter.  I  find,  however,  that  it  will  be  impos- 
sible for  me  to  be  present,  and  I  am  therefore  under  the  necessity  of 
sending  this  note  to  express  my  grateful  acknowledgment  of  your  kind- 
ness, and  my  regret  that  I  cannot  participate  in  your  festivity. 

I  use  the  words  in  no  common-place  sense  when  I  say  that  I  should 
be  glad  to  be  with  you.  Under  any  circumstances  it  would  be  a  pleasure 
to  me  to  extend  my  personal  acquaintance  with  the  members  of  your 
Society,  and  to  enjoy  the  "  feast  of  reason  and  the  flow  of  soul,"  which 
the  occasion  will  doubtless  elicit. 

But  in  the  present  opinion  of  the  public  condition  of  the  countrj', 
there  are  many  circumstances  calculated  to  give  to  your  meeting  a  pecu- 
liar interest.  Your  Society  is  composed  of  the  sons  of  New  England, 
the  descendants  of  those  stern  old  republicans  who  left  their  fatherland 
to  enjoy,  on  an  inhospitable  shore,  civil  and  religious  freedom.  They 
were  of  the  race  of  covenanters.  They  planted  themselves  on  a  soil 
7 


50 

and  in  a  climate  as  austere  and  unyielding'  as  their  own  principles.  By 
the  exercise  of  their  characteristic  virtues  of  industry,  sobriety,  and  good 
faith,  they  grew  to  be  a  prosperous  people. 

Near  the  same  period,  came  to  these  distant  bhores,  a  very  different 
race — the  founders  of  your  own  goodly  city  of  New  Amsterdam — the 
venerable  Mynheers  of  Holland,  whose  amphibious  tastes  led  them  to 
choose  as  their  abiding  place,  the  Island  of  Manhattiin,  and  the  circum- 
jacent territory.  A  little  lower  down  the  coast,  three  other  settlements 
were  made,  by  communities  entertaining  different  religious  and  political 
sentiments,  having  different  manners  and  habits ;  and  possessing  different 
social  and  domestic  institutions.  \ 

First  came  the  broad-brimmed  disciples  of  William  Penn,  the  man  of 
peace,  and  the  father  of  the  city  of  brotherly  love.  Next  the  plumed 
cavaliers  of  the  "  Old  Dominion,"  with  their  punctilious  chivalry,  and 
reckless  extravagance,  and  fixed  aversion  to  manual  labor,  which  a  long 
course  of  indulgence  in  the  gay  and  luxurious  courts  of  the  Charles'  had 
engendered.  Last,  but  not  least,  were  the  brave  and  enthusiastic  Hugue- 
nots of  North  Carolina,  half  soldiers  and  half  saints,  and  at  all  times 
ready  to  die  for  their  faith.  With  the  successive  upheavings  of  the  social 
and  political  systems  of  Europe,  these  different  classes  of  men  were 
thrown  upon  our  shores  like  streams  of  lava  from  a  volcanic  mountain. 
Each  of  these  communities  possessed  its  peculiar  virtues,  and  each  had 
its  peculiar  faults.  For  many  long  years  they  remained  separate  and 
distinct  colonies,  having  but  little  sympathy  of  feeling  and  less  commu- 
nity of  interest.  They  were,  in  many  respects,  estranged  from  each 
other,  and  stood  rather  in  an  attitude  of  antagonism.  They  stood  side 
by  side,  like  staves  in  a  barrel,  but,  unfortunately,  they  had  no  hoop  of 
common  interest  and  sympathy  to  bind  them  together.  By  degrees  they 
all  passed  under  the  dominion  of  England,  and  recognised  their  allegiance 
to  the  British  Crown.  In  process  of  time  controversies  sprung  up  with 
the  mother  country.  These  controversies  were  not  confined  to  one  or 
half  a  dozen  of  the  colonies.  They  extended  to  all.  The  common  sense 
of  injury,  and  of  danger  aroused  a  common  spirit  of  resistance.  The 
pressure  from  without  forced  them  together.  A  tow-string  confede- 
racy was  formed  between  them,  which  bound  them  together  in  an  im- 
perfect union.  Under  a  common  flag,  and  under  the  command  of  a 
common  (though  very  uncommon)  leader  they  achieved  their  indepen- 
dence. The  fraternal  feelings  which  sprung  out  of  joint  toils  and  dan- 
gers and  triumphs,  drew  them  for  a  time  into  closer  alliance.  But  these 
ties  were  not  likely  to  be  strong  enough  to  keep  them  together.  Wise 
men — very  wise  men — the  wisest  and  best  men  the  world  ever  saw — 
perceived  that  a  more  perfect  union  was  necessary.  It  was  a  work  of 
great  difficulty.  Old  prejudices  were  to  be  overcome — Jealousies  were 
to  be  soothed — Hereditary  feuds  were  to  be  extinguished — Diverse  inter- 
ests were  to  be  reconciled — Sectional  differences  were  to  be  compro- 
mised. Great  as  was  the  t;isk,  the  patriots  of  those  days  did  not  shrink 
from  it.  With  skilful  hands  and  cool  heads,  and  honest  hearts,  they  set 
about  the  good  work.  Under  the  auspices  of  Washington  and  Henrt 
and  Madison  and  Jay  and  Hamilton  and  Franklin,  it  was  accomplished. 
That  work  was  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.     Who  will  say 


51 

tJiat  the  men  who  framed  it  were  not  as  wise,  as  virtuous,  as  patriotic,— 
aye  as  conscientious,  as  the  men  of  our  times  ? 

This  is  the  history  of  our  country  in  a  nut-shell.  I  appeal  to  all  men 
to  say  if  it  is  not  so  ?  I  will  further  ask  them  if  that  Constitution  has 
not  fulfilled  the  ends  for  which  it  was  ordained? 

I,  as  a  Virginian, — the  son  and  the  grandson  of  men  who  fought  in  our 
revolutionary  struggle  by  the  side  of  the  fathers  of  the  present  members 
of  the  New  England  Society — as  the  son  of  one  of  the  men  who  voted 
in  the  Convention  of  Virginia  to  ratify  that  constitutional  compact  be- 
tween the  colonies  with  all  its  covenants,  would  like  now  to  have  the 
opportunity  of  talking  to  the  descendants  of  those  old  covenanters  of 
New  England,  and  of  asking  them  if  they  have  repudiated  the  faith  of 
their  fathers :  if  they  mean  to  break  the  covenants  which  their  fathers 
made  with  my  father?  I  would  like  to  know  if  they  think  they  are  better 
men  than  Hancock  and  Adams  and  Sherman,  and  the  heroes  and  sages 
of  the  revolutionary  days? 

I  would  like,  in  a  spirit  of  fraternal  affection  for  them,  and  of  filial 
respect  for  their  fathers,  to  ask  if  they  are  not  willing  to  stand  on  the 
platform  on  which  their  fathers  stood,  and  to  pronounce  "  good"  the  work 
which  proceeded  out  of  their  hands !  If  their  answer  should  be,  as  I  have 
no  doubt  it  would  be,  in  the  afhrmative,  then  I  should  like  to  extend  to 
them  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  and  to  renew  with  them  the  pledge 
which  our  fathers  interchanged,  that  henceforth  there  shall  be  no  strife 
between  us,  and  to  say  to  them,  that  through  all  time  to  come,  "  thy 
people  shall  be  my  people  and  thy  God  shall  be  my  God !" 

With  great  respect, 

I  have  the  honor  to  be. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

ALEX.  H.  H.  STUART. 


[From  Hon,  Lewis  Cass,  U.  S.  Senator,  from  Michigan,] 

Washington,  Dec.  20,  1850. 
Sir, 

I  am  much  obliged  to  the  Committee  for  remembering  me  among 
those  to  be  invited  to  the  anniversary  dinner  of  the  New  England  Society 
of  your  city,  for  though  an  emigrant  of  the  last  century  from  our  father- 
land, yet  I  have  never  ceased  to  cherish  a  just  pride  in  its  history,  its 
people  and  its  institutions,  and  a  grateful  recollection  of  what  I  owe — 
and  it  is  much — to  the  early  lessons  of  wisdom  and  virtue  which  are 
there  taught,  the  true  fruit,  indeed,  of  its  admirable  system  of  education, 
and  which,  if  I  have  too  often  neglected,  I  have  never,  I  trust,  wholly 
disregarded.  It  is  good  to  meet  together  on  these  hallowed  occasions, 
and  especially  is  it  good  for  those  of  us  who  have  found  new  homes  in 
our  common  country,  as  life  wears  on  to  recall  the  scenes  and  events  of 
its  infancy,  and  withdraw  ourselves  from  the  dominion  of  the  present,  by 
going  back  to  the  associations  of  the  past.  And  wherever  the  sons  of 
New  England  are  found — and  that  wherever  is  everywhere — they  may 


52 

hail  the  return  of  this  day  with  pride  and  pleasure,  and  commemorate  the 
virtues  of  the  Pilgrims.  Fable  and  tradition  gather  round  the  history  of 
other  countries.  The  early  history  of  our  own  is  before  the  world  in  all 
the  light  of  truth. 

The  rock  of  Plymouth  is  still  there,  not  marked,  indeed,  with  the  rod 
of  the  Prophet,  but  attesting  the  source  of  a  living  stream  which  has  since 
spread  over  a  continent,  uniting  together  the  two  great  oceans  which 
bound  both  that  continent  and  our  Republic.  And  the  existence  of  tiiat 
memorial  of  a  nation's  birth  is  not  more  certain  than  is  the  whole  story 
of  the  wrongs  that  drove  forth  the  self-exiled  band,  and  of  all  they  did 
and  suffered  in  laying  the  foundation  of  those  institutions  which,  while 
they  do  honor  to  their  memor}%  have  given  their  descendants  a  name  and 
a  station  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  is  good,  then,  while  we 
look  round  upon  the  freedom  and  greatness  and  prosperity  of  our  coun- 
try, and  forward  to  the  mighty  destiny  which  we  may  humbly  hope  in 
the  providence  of  God  awaits  us,  unless  prevented  by  his  just  judgment 
in  punishment  of  our  national  offences.  It  is  good  to  look  back  to  this 
day  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  recall  the  trials,  and  the  deeds,  and 
^he  virtues  of  our  foi'efathers. 

The  retrospect,  should  teach  us  many  a  lesson  of  wisdom.  If  it  teach 
us  no  other  we  may  learn  from  it  the  mighty  price  that  was  paid  by  the 
early  emigrants,  as  well  of  New  England  as  of  Virginia,  for  the  precious 
institutions  that  have  come  down  to  us,  and  to  defend  with  our  own  lives 
what  was  purchased  by  theirs. 

I  join  you  with  a  full  heart  in  all  the  manifestations  the  occasion  may 
call  forth,  and  I  beg  leave  to  offer  a  sentiment  among  the  other  tributes 
of  grateful  recollections  which  custom  and  feeling  have  equally  united  in 
making  part  of  these  proceedings. 
I  am.  Sir, 

With  great  respect, 

Your  ob't  serv't, 

LEWIS  CASS. 
C.  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 

"  The  May  Flower : — Thoagh  it  became  the  flower  of  winter,  yet  its  frait  ww 
bright  and  beautiful." 


[From  Hon.  Johk  Bell,  U.  S.  Senator,  from  Tennessee.^ 

Washington,  Dec.  2l8t,  1860. 
My  Dear  Su", 

Upon  the  receipt  of  your  kind  autographic  note  of  the  16th,  following 
your  more  formal  one  of  the  7th  instant,  inviting  me,  in  behalf  of  the 
New  England  Society  in  New-York,  to  attend  their  anniversary  dinner 
on  the  23d  instant,  nothing  but  a  distressing  attack  of  influenza  could 
have  prevented  my  acceptance.  Public  business  here  at  this  season  is 
neither  so  pressing  nor  important  as  to  have  restrained  me. 

Allow  me  to  say,  as  I  do  in  perfect  sincerity,  that  among  no  portion 
of  the  human  genus  have  I  met  with  warmer  and  more  generous  hearts 
than  among  the  enlightened  sons  of  New  England.    I  shall  ever  cherish 


53 

• 
with  a  lively  pleasure  the  kindly  greeting  and  hospitable  welcome  which, 
many  years  ago,  I  received  from  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims,  in  the  city 
of  New-York,  and  in  every  city  of  that  New  England  cherished  as  your 
father-land,  which  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  visit.  The  Pilgrim  race  are, 
indeed,  a  peop'e  of  striking,  of  wonderful,  and  in  some  respects  of  pecu- 
liar characteristics.  Skilful  of  hand,  indomitable  of  spirit,  fruitful  of 
invention  and  powerful  of  intellect,  they  bid  defiance  to  obstacles,  and 
are  fitted  to  conquer  success  in  every  department  of  human  effort.  But 
this  is  not  their  highest  honor.  In  whomsoever  of  the  gifted  sons  of 
New  England  engaged  in  the  more  intellectual  callings,  genius  beams 
bright,  and  though  in  them  are  illustrated  the  loftiest  p2itriotism  and  the 
most  comprehensive  and  national  views  of  public  policy  and  duty;  while 
among  her  more  numerous  sons,  whose  inclination  and  ambition,  guided 
by  intellects  equal  to  whatever  they  might  undertake,  impelled  them  to 
enterprises  which  lead  to  greater  wealth,  but  few  are  to  be  found  of  a 
less  cxp.insive  patriotism,  and  scarcely  any  who  do  not  in  their  abund- 
ance also  abound  in  works  of  charity  and  benificence ;  and  at  the  same 
lime  otherwise  exemplify  a  sound  philosophy  in  their  mode  of  life — not 
in  sacrificing  to,  but  in  sacrificing  Mammon  daily  at  their  hospitable  and 
festive  boards. 

To  be  with  the  representatives  of  a  people — nay,  rather  with  a  verit- 
able portion  of  a  people — of  such  characteristic ts,  at  their  anniversary 
festival,  how  glad  would  I  be ;  but  I  cannot. 

Accept  assurances  of  my  sincere  regard, 

JNO.  BELL, 
C,  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 


[From  Hon.  Tho.mas  McDowell,  U.  S.  Representative,  from  Virginia.] 

WASHUiGTOs  CiTT,  Dec.  22,  1860. 
Mr.  C.  A.  Stetson, 

Sir : — I  have  duly  received  your  letters  of  the  7th  and  18th  inst. — the 
first  inviting  me,  on  behalf  of  the  New  England  Society  in  New-York, 
to  participate  in  its  anniversary  festival  on  Monday  next,  and  the  other 
enforcing  the  acceptance  of  that  invitation  upon  me  in  terms  and  sug- 
gestions of  much  personal  kindness  and  respect.  Allow  me  to  thank 
you  for  them  both,  and  to  assure  you  that  it  would  give  me  the  very 
highest  pleasure  to  accept  an  invitation  so  emphatically  tendered,  and  to 
acknowledge  the  honor  of  it,  as  I  best  might,  face  to  face  with  your 
Society,  if  I  felt  entirely  free  to  leave  my  official  engagements  here,  even 
for  a  few  days,  for  that  purpose.  But  this,  at  present,  I  do  not ;  for  inde- 
pendantly  of  a  short  absence  from  these  engagements  to  which  I  am 
already  committed  by  a  promised  service  in  a  neighboring  city,  and  my 
strong  reluctance,  on  that  account,  to  consent  to  any  other  absence  any- 
where else,  independently  of  this,  such  is  the  domestic  condition  of  our 
public  affairs  that  no  one  can  foresee  the  day  or  the  hour  when  every 
member  of  Congress,  who  loves  the  peace  of  his  country,  may  not  be 
needed  at  his  post  to  protect  it. 

But  for  these  embarrassments  in  my  situation  here,  I  should  go  on  to 


54 

• 

yonr  festival  without  fail,  and  share  with  you  in  the  high  privilege  of 
commemorating  that  Plymouth  ancestry  which,  not  New  England  only, 
but  the  whole  country  have  such  abundant  reason  to  reverence  and  re- 
member. Specially  dear  as  that  ancestry  may  be  to  you,  who  have  more 
immedia<ely  descended  from  it,  the  unity  of  our  national  relationship 
makes  it  scarcely  less  dear  or  less  precious  to  us  all.  No  matter  where 
our  birth  place,  we  have  enjoyed  in  common  the  wisdom  of  its  labors  in 
the  great  cause  of  written  constitutions  and  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
and  can,  therefore,  well  unite  with  you  and  all  others  in  a  common  and 
heartfelt  homage  to  its  memory  and  its  virtues.  And  this  your  annual 
festival  furnishes  a  delightful  occasion  for  doing — a  delightful  occasion 
for  keeping  up,  amongst  the  citizens  of  our  several  States,  the  sense  of 
their  mutual  obligation  and  independence,  and  thus  of  refreshing  and 
deepening  the  sources  of  our  national  vitality  and  our  national  peace. 
If  it  but  do  this  cfFectually,  it  will  render  us  all  more  indissolubly  one  in 
sentiment  and  heart  than  we  are  now  one  by  constitutional  compact,  and 
so,  under  the  blessing  of  He.iven,  it  may  greatly  contribute  to  the  pre- 
vention of  that  fraternal  discord  which,  once  acknowledged  amongst  us, 
will  cover  with  the  wretchedness  and  wickedness  of  a  second  Soddom, 
this  Arabia  Felix  of  mankind.  Never  has  it  pleased  Providence  to  put 
into  the  hands  of  any  people  such  a  country  as  ours  before  ;  and  never, 
therefore,  were  any  people  under  such  a  weight  of  duty  to  maintain  their 
country  as  we  are.  Tolal,  uncompTomising,  and  eternal  then  be  our  spirit 
of  resistance  to  every  thing  that  would  impair  or  divide  it. 

So  thinking  and  feeling  on  this  subject,  I  beg  to  offer  the  subjoined 
sentiment  to  your  meeting,  and  with  it  to  express  the  assurance  of  thank- 
fulness and  respect,  with  which  I  am  both  yours,  and  the  Society's  obe- 
dient servant, 

THOMAS  McDowell. 

"  Plymouth  and  Jamestown— the  cradles  of  American  popalation  and  power — 
happy  and  eternal  be  the  Union  of  the  great  people  whose  infancy  they  rocked." 


[From   His  Excellency,   Hamilton    Fish,    Governor  of  the    Slate     of 

New-  York. 

Alb  ANT,  Dec.  19,  1860. 
C.  A.  Stetson,  Esq.,  New-York. 

Dear  Sir: — It  would  give  me  much  pleasure  if  I  could  avail  myself  of 
the  invitation  which  you  have  sent  me,  on  behalf  of  the  Committee  of 
the  New  England  Society,  to  your  anniversary  dinner  on  23d  inst.  But 
the  few  days  remaining  of  the  p.assing  year,  are  so  entirely  overspread 
with  official  engagements,  that  it  will  be  out  of  my  power  to  be  with  you. 
Permit  me,  however,  to  offer  a  sentiment  which  I  enclose. 
With  sincere  regard,  yours  faithfully, 

HAMILTON  FISH. 

'*  The  Sons  of  New  England — The  morality  inculcated  by  their  mothers,  and  the 
education  imparted  by  their  fathers,  illumine  the  pathway,  with  which  their  enter- 
prise has  encircled  the  earth." 


65 

[From  Hon.  D.  S.  Dickisson,  U.  S.  SencUor,  from  New  York.} 

Sexate  Chamber,         ) 
Washington,  Dec.  14, 1860.  \ 
My  Dear  Sir : — 

As  a  native  of  that  denr  land  whose  enterprise  has  penetrated  the  most 
obscure  recesses  of  the  globe,  I  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  accept  your 
kind  invitation  to  tlie  anniversary  dinner  of  the  New  England  Society,  to 
be  given,  at  the  Astor  House,  on  the  23d  instant.  Thanking  you  for  your 
friendly  remembrance, 

I  am,  sincerely  yours, 

D.  S.  DICKINSON. 
Charles  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 


[From  Hon.  William  H.  Seward,   U.  S.  Senator,  from  New  York.] 

Washington,  Deo.  10th,  1860. 
My  Dear  Sir : — 

I  pray  you  to  make  known  to  the  New  England  Society,  my  grateful 
sense  of  the  honor  they  have  shown  me  by  inviting  me  to  their  annual 
festival,  and  to  assure  thera  that  although  not  "  to  tlte  manner  born,"  I 
am  a  reverent  admirer  of  New  England  principles  and  New  England 
virtues. 

I  am,  faithfully,  your  friend  and  servant, 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARIX 

Charles  A.  Stetson,  New-York. 


[From  Hon.  Truman  Smith,  U.  S.  Senator,  from  Connecticut.], 

Washington  City,  Dec.  14,  1850. 
C.  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 

I  have  received  your  kind  favor  of  the  7th  instant,  proffering  to  me  (in 
behalf  of  the  Committee)  an  invitation  to  the  anniversary  dinner  of  the 
New  England  Society,  to  be  given,  at  the  Astor  House,  on  the  23d  instant. 
I  can  assure  you  that  nothing  could  afford  me  higher  satisfaction  than  to 
be  present  with  the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims  on  the  occasion  to  which 
you  refer,  and  to  unite  with  them  in  an  expression  of  reverence  for  the 
memory  of  those  wiio  laid  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  New  Eng- 
land institutions,  and  who  both  by  precept  and  example,  contributed 
powerfully  to  the  dissemination  of  enlightened,  liberal  and  just  views  of 
civil  government  throughout  this  vast  country ;  but  I  regi-et  to  be  obliged 
to  add,  that  probably  my  public  duties  will  forbid  my  leaving  the  city  for 
the  purpose  indicated,  and  these,  you  will  admit,  must,  to  a  true  son  of 
New  England,  be  paramount  to  other  considerations. 

With  sentiment  of  high  respect,  believe  me  to  be  truly  and  faithfully 
yours,  TRUMAN  SMITH. 


56 

[From  His  Excellency  Henry  B.  Anthony,  Oocemor  of  Rhode  Island.] 

Providence,  Dec.  21,  1850. 
My  Dear  Sir : — 

I  am  honored  with  your  invitation  to  attend  the  annual  celebration  of 
the  New  England  Society  of  New-York. 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  sons  of  New  England  that  wherever  they  go, 
they  carry  with  them  a  grateful  remembrance  of  their  Pilgrim  ancestry — 
of  the  men  to  whose  self-sacrificing  spirit  and  indomitable  courage  the 
world  is  so  largely  indebted.  Nowhere  is  this  just  and  honorable  feeling 
more  strongly  manifested  than  in  New-York. 

It  would  afford  me  great  pleasure  to  participate  with  you  an  occasion 
of  80  much  interest,  but  my  engagements  at  home  forbid  my  leaving. 
I  am,  with  great  respect. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

HENRY  B.  ANTHONY. 

Chakles  a.  Stetson,  Esq. 


[From  Hon.  W.  M.  Meredith,  late  Secretary  United  States  TVeasury.] 

Philadelphia,  Dec.  16,  1850. 
My  Dear  Sir : — 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter,  on  behalf 
of  the  Committee  of  the  New  England  Society,  inviting  me  to  the  anni- 
versary dinner  of  the  Society  at  New-York,  on  the  23d  instant.  I  beg 
you  will  express  for  me  to  the  Committee,  my  sincere  regret  that  my 
engagements  are  such  as  prevent  me  from  accepting  the  invitation.  I 
should  have  been  most  happy  to  be  able  to  avail  myself  of  the  opportu- 
nity of  testifying  my  esteem  for  the  people  of  New  England,  of  whom, 
as  fellow-countrymen,  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  rest  of  the  United  States 
have  reason  to  be  proud. 

I  am,  my  dear  Sir, 

*  With  great  regard. 

Very  truly  yours, 

W.  M.  MEREDITH. 
C.  A.  Stetsoh,  Esq. 

[From  Hon.  M.  P.  Gentry,  U.  S.  Senator,  from  Tennessee.] 

Washington,  Dec.  21,  1860. 
Sir:— 

I  have  had  the  honor  of  receiving  from  you,  in  behalf  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Society  of  New-York  City,  an  invitation  to  attend  the  anniversary 
dinner  of  that  Society,  on  the  23d  instant. 

Also  your  letter  of  the  16th  instant,  assuring  me  that  that  invitation 
was  not  intended  as  an  empty  compliment,  but  that  there  was  a  sincere 
desdre  on  the  part  of  yourself  and  other  excellent  friends  of  mine,  that  I 


57 

should  be  present.  T  have  delayed  answering  until  now,  hoping  to  be 
able  to  accept  your  invitation  ;  but,  I  have  been  confined  to  ray  room  for 
several  days,  and  my  physician  admonishes  me  that  it  would  be  very  un- 
safe to  visit  New-York.  I  am,  therefore,  constrained  to  deny  myself  the 
pleasure  I  had  hoped  to  enjoy  of  meeting  those  personal  friends  that  you 
mentioned,  and  tlic  kindred  spirits  by  whom  they  will  doubtless  be  sur- 
rounded. Aside  from  the  social  pleasure  of  such  a  meeting  at  any  time, 
I  was  especially  desirous  to  meet  and  mingle  with  the  sons  of  New  Eng- 
land at  this  particular  time,  that  I  might  learn  their  sentiments  and  pur- 
poses in  relation  to  those  questions  that  now  so  much  disturb  the  tran-^ 
quility  of  our  country,  and  threaten  the  destruction  of  that  noble  fabric 
of  liberty  built  up  by  the  united  efforts  ot  our  common  ancestors  of  the 
Revolution.  In  the  "  times  that  tried  men's  souls,"  Southerns  and  New 
Englanders  fought  side  by  side  on  the  same  battle  fields,  and  poured  out 
their  blood  together  in  achieving  independence.  In  that  grent  struggle, 
those  who  opposed  the  cause  of  independence  were  regarded  as  the  ene- 
mies of  the  country ;  and,  in  my  opinion,  those  who  now  oppose  its 
tranqnilization  by  fomenting  sectional  animosities,  (by  whatever  motives 
they  are  actuated,)  may,  with  equal  propriety,  be  regarded  as  practically 
enemies  of  the  country. 

I  do  not  permit  myself  to  doubt  that  the  sons  of  New  England  will, 
in  the  crisis  which  is  at  hand,  prove  themselves  worthy  of  their  sires,  by 
performing  their  whole  duty,  in  preserving  and  upholding  the  Constitu- 
tion and  Union  which  those  sires  so  gloriously  contributed  to  establish. 

Repeating  my  regret  at  my  inability  to  be  present  with  you  on  the  23d 
instant,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  the  highest  respect, 
Your  friend,  and  obedient  servant, 

M.  P.  GENTRY. 

P.  S. — If  the  temper  of  the  assemblage  should  be  such  as  to  induce 
you  to  believe  that  the  following  would  be  an  acceptable  sentiment,  yoir 
may  offer  it  in  my  name : — 

"New  England: — She  had  no  Tories  in  the  Reyolation— she  ought  to  have  nor 
Hebels  now. 

Charles  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 

[From  Hon.  W.  A,  Sackett,  U.  S.  Representative,  from  New  York], 

House  of  Representatives,         > 
Washington,  Dec.  21,  1860.  \ 
Gentlemen : — • 

I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  invitation  to  the  anniversary  din- 
ner of  the  New  England  Society,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  for  which  you 
will  please  accept  ray  cordial  acknowledgment.  It  would  give  me  great 
pleasure  to  mingle  with  the  sons  of  New  England  on  that  occasion,  and 
to  join  them  in  their  pledge  of  remembrance  to  "  the  father  land."  But 
my  duties  as  a  Representative  require  my  attention  here,  and  pleasure 
must  jneld  to  the  obligations  they  impose. 

8 


58 

Nothing  can  more  deeply  interest  the  American  citizen  than  the  study 
of  New  England ;  the  study  of  her  beginning,  her  progress,  the  character 
of  her  institutions,  the  causes  of  her  prosperity.  She  began  in  poverty 
and  has  succeeded  to  wealth ;  she  began  in  obscurity  and  has  risen  to 
greatness.  Her  torcli  of  liberty,  brought  from  off  the  May  Flower  and 
set  upon  the  Rock  of  Plymouth,  by  the  same  hands  that  first  kindled  its 
flame,  is  still  kept  trimmed  and  burning  by  the  sons  of.  the  Pilgiiras. 
For  more  than  two  hundred  years  it  has  burned  clearly  and  steadily.  No 
fitful  gleams  of  delusive  brightness,  or  transient  glows  of  unenduring 
light,  lost  in  succeeding  darkness,  have  bewildered  its  way.  Lighted  in 
solitude  it  is  now  hailed  by  the  friends  of  liberty  as  freedom's  beacon 
fire  throughout  the  world. 

The  people  of  New  England  have  a  world-wide  renown  for  oriirinality 
and  invention.  These  great  qualities  they  may  well  possess.  For  the 
entire  structure  of  New  England  institutions  is  but  the  elaboration  of 
some  original  thought  of  her  own.  Made  after  no  model  she  is  herself 
a  model.     Full  of  inventive  thought  she  is  herself  the  great  invention. 

Learning  is  borrowed,  thought  is  original.  Learning  is  a  record  of  the 
known  use  of  things.  Thought  applies  known  things  to  new  uses.  And 
here  lies  the  secret  of  the  success,  the  rapid  progress  of  New  England. 
She  is  pre-eminently  the  land  of  thought,  of  practical,  useful  thought. 
The  world  has  changed  since  she  began.  France  has  been  repeatedly 
revolutionized,  and  become,  in  form,  a  Republic.  The  claimed  rights  of 
the  Crown  of  England  have  been  subjected  to  representative  power,  Eu* 
lope  has  been  re-modelled,  and  this  Continent  has  witnessed  revolutions, 
new  combinations,  new  forms,  new  governments ;  a  constant  change  of 
political  power,  but  New  England  has  not  changed — she  has  indeed  pro- 
gressed, and  progressed  rapidly,  but  not  changed.  She  worships  as  she 
has  worshipped ;  she  governs  herself  as  she  has  governed  herself ;  her 
laws  are  now  as  they  were  in  the  beginning,  the  emanation  of  the  thought, 
the  sentiment  of  her  people.  She  is  now  as  she  has  ever  been  one  of 
the  most  perfect  examples  o^  regulated  liberty.  She  has  read  the  history 
of  the  world  and  improved  by  the  lesson.  The  world  will  read  her  his- 
tory and  be  improved  by  her  example.  She  cannot  fall.  She  has  no 
power  above  her  people  to  be  torn  down,  and  no  power  beneath  them 
that  threatens  her  security. 

As  the  birth  place  of  my  ancestors,  I,  too,  love  New  England  as  a 
father  land,  and  you  may  be  assured,  though  a  New  Yorker,  that  my 
heart  is  with  you  in  your  homage  to  the  firesides  and  the  hearth  stones 
of  your  nativity. 

Allow  me  to  offer  a  sentiment. 

"New  England: — While  her  people  remain  her  institations  are  secure.  Her 
legions  are  her  people  ;  an  army  more  powerful  to-morrow  than  to-day.  Her  power 
like  her  progress  gathers  greatness  as  she  marches  onward.  She  is  one  grand  conso* 
lidation  of  parts,  into  a  perfect  union  of  power,  justice,  liberty  and  law." 

With  high  regard, 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

W.  A.  SACKETT. 
C.  A.  Stetson,  and  Committee  of  the 

New  England  Society,  in  the  city  of  New  York. 


59 

[From   Hon.  Jn:   Macphebson  Bebeien,  V.  S.  Senator,  from  Georgia.\ 

Washington,  Dec.  19,  1850. 
Dear  Sir : — 

I  have  to  acknowledjre  the  receipt  of  your  letter,  conveying  to  me  the 
invitation  of  the  New  England  Society,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  to  be 
present  at  their  anniversary  dinner,  at  the  Astor  House,  on  Monday,  the 
23d  instant,  and  to  express  ray  regret  that  my  engagements  here,  wifl 
compel  me  to  deny  to  myself  that  pleasure. 
Very  respectfully  yours, 

JN :  MACPHERSON  BERRIEN. 
Mr.  Stetson. 


[From  William  H.  Pbescott,  of  Boston."] 

Boston,  Dec.  18,  1850. 
Dear  Sir: — 

I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  your  note,  inviting  me  to  attend 
the  celebration  of  the  New  England  Society  at  New  York,  on  the  23d. 
I  regret  very  much  that  it  will  not  be  in  ray  power  to  leave  Boston  and 
be  with  you  at  that  time.  You  will  have  the  heart  of  raany  a  son  of  New 
England  who  cannot  be  with  you  in  person  on  that  day.  As  one  of  the 
number,  I  beg  to  send  you  a  toast,  to  grace  your  flowing  lips,  which  I 
hope  will  not  come  araiss. 

"  The  Free  Schools  of  New  England  :— If  our  fatherland  cannot  boast  all  the 
fruits  of  softer  climei),  it  is  at  least  rich  in  the  fruits  of  the  Tree  of  Knowledge." 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  H.  PRESCOTT. 
G.  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 

[From  F.  Wayland.] 

Brown  UNivERsiTr,  Dec.  11,  1860. 
Dear  Sir : — 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  Decern* 
ber  7th,  conveying  to  me  the  invitation  of  the  New  England  Society,  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  to  attend  their  anniversary  dinner  on  the  23d  of 
the  present  month. 

I  deeply  regret  that  the  pressure  of  daily  duties  deprives  me  of  the 
pleasure  of  accepting  this  gratifying  invitation.  Nothing  could  give  me 
greater  delight  than  to  listen  on  that  occasion  to  the  eloquence  of  the 
eons  of  the  Puritans,  and  unite  with  them  in  doing  honor  to  the  mea 
whose  principles  are  the  beacon  light  of  European  civilization. 
I  am.  Sir,  yours  truly, 

F.  WAYLAND. 
C.  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 


Dear  Sir ; 


60 
[From  Hon.  Edwakd  Evekett,  of  Massachusetts.] 

Cambridge,  Dec.  17,  i860. 


Your  favor  of  the  7th  reached  me  a  day  or  two  ago.  I  am  greatly 
obliged  to  the  Committee  of  the  New  England  Society  for  the  honor  of 
an  invitation  to  their  anniversary  dinner  on  the  23d  instant.  I  much  re- 
gret that  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  be  present  on  this  occasion  ;  always  an 
interesting  one,  and  rendered  unusually  so  at  tiiis  time,  by  the  alarming 
state  of  public  affairs.  As  unity  of  feeling  is  even  more  important  than 
"  unity  of  government"  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  we  are  earnestly 
called  upon,  by  the  aspect  of  the  times,  to  tix  our  thoughts  on  all  tiiose 
circumstances  in  the  settlement  and  history  of  the  United  States,  which 
are  calculated  to  strengthen  the  patriotic  sentiment. 

Prominent  among  these  are  the  hardships  and  sacrifices  of  the  first  set- 
tlers of  the  country.  It  is  shocking  to  reflect  that  their  labors  and  suf- 
ferings,— unless  a  better  feeling  can  be  made  to  prevail  ietween  North 
and  South, — will  have  no  other  result  than  the  dissolution  of  the  Union 
at  the  heighth  of  its  prosperity ;  and  the  substitution  of  discord,  anarchy, 
and  civil  war  for  the  blessings  which  it  confers  in  such  abundance  on  ail 
its  members. 

Admit  that  we  are  obliged,  both  at  the  South  and  the  North,  to  take 
these  blessings  with  abatements ; — that  we  cannot,  at  either  end  of  the 
Union,  have  things  as  we  could  wish  ; — that  slavery  exists  at  the  South 
and  anti-slavery  agitation  at  the  North.  Shall  we  be  any  better  off,  in 
either  respect,  when  the  Union  is  broken  into  two  or  two  dozen  separate 
sovereignties?  Will  there,  in  Ihat  case,  be  one  slave  the  less  at  the 
South,  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  North  ;  or  one  particle  the  less  agitation 
at  the  North  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  South  ? 

It  is  urged,  I  am  aware,  in  this  quarter,  that  we  are  subjected  to  a  pre- 
ponderating influence  on  the  part  of  the  slave-holding  States,  at  once 
injurious  and  humiliating.  But  the  Southern  disunionists  say  that  they 
are  driven  to  separation,  by  the  continual  and  successful  encroachments 
of  the  North.  Is  there  not  error  on  both  sides ;  and  do  not  these  oppo- 
site statements  call  upon  thoughtful  men,  in  both  parts  of  the  Union,  to 
search  their  consciences,  whether  they  have  a  sufficient  warrant  for  in- 
voking the  country  in  the  certain  horrors  of  civil  war  on  such  contradic- 
tory grounds ;  especially  Avhen  it  is  reflected  that  the  evils  complained  of, 
on  cither  side,  are  sure  to  be  aggravated  by  the  fancied  remedy  ? 

Confident  that  the  just  influence  of  the  New  England  Society  will  be 
exerted  to  restore  the  harmony  between  the  two  great  sections  of  the 
country  which  has  been  so  deplorably  impaired, 

I  remain,  dear  Sir, 

Very  truly  and  respectfully  yours, 

EDWARD  EVERETT, 

C.  A.  Stetsok,  Esq.,  Chairman. 


61 

[from  WiLLUM  ScHOULEK,  of  Boston.] 

Boston,  Dec.  16,  1850. 
Charlks  a.  Stetson,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir: — On  my  return  yesferday  from  Washinjrton,  T  found  your 
polite  invitation  to  be  present  with  you  at  the  anniversnry  of  the  New 
England  Society,  in  the  city  of  New-York,  on  the  23d  instant,  at  the 
Astor  House. 

I  feel  hifflily  honored  by  being  thus  distinguished,  and  would  gladly 
have  accepted  the  invitation,  were  it  not  for  private  engagcmentK,  which 
demand  my  presence  at  home. 

Please  convey  to  the  officers  and  members  of  your  honorable  Society, 
my  thanks  for  their  invitation,  together  with  the  assurance  we  all  feel 
here,  that  of  New  England's  sons  who  have  wandered  forth  from  our 
sterih^  soil,  into  other  parts,  that  those  of  them  who  abide  in  the  city  of 
New-York,  are  cherished  at  home  as  among  the  choicest  of  our  lost  jewels. 
Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  SCHOULER. 


[From  Hon.  William  Duer,  U.  S.  Representative,from  New-  York.] 

Washington,  Dec.  21, 1850. 
Dear  Sir : — 

I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  invitation,  on  behalf  of  the  New 
England  Society,  to  attend  their  anniversary  dinner,  at  the  Astor  House, 
on  Monday,  the  23d  instant. 

I  greatly  regret  that  my  engagements  here  are  such  as  to  compel  mo 
to  decline  your  polite  invitation,  and  thereby  deprive  myself  of  a  great 
pleasure. 

I  am,  very  respectfully. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WILLIAM  DUER. 
C  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 

[From  Hon.  R.  Choate,    Ex-Senator  of  Massachusetts.] 

Boston,  Dec.  19,  1850. 
C  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 

My  Dear  Sir : — I  am  distressed  that  it  will  be  utterly  impossible  for 
me  to  be  bodily  among  the  New-York  sons  of  Pilgrims.  The  Courts 
forbid.  Nothing  could  give  me  so  much  pleasure,  or  afford  me  so  good 
a  4!hance  to  say  one  or  two  things  with  which  my  heart  is  bursting. 

I  am,  respectfully  yours, 

R.  CHOATE. 


)(-^'^zcf^ 


62 

{From  Hon.  Washington  Hunt,  Comptroller  State  of  New  York.'] 

Albany,  Nov.  14,  1860. 
Gentlemen : — 

I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  letter,  inviting  me  to  bo  present 
at  the  anniversary  dinner  of  the  New  England  Society,  on  the  23d  inst. 
It  would  afford  me  sincere  pleasure  to  be  with  you  on  an  occasion  which 
revives  so  many  cherished  associations  of  the  past,  and  inspires  us  with 
exalted  hopes  for  the  future  grandeur  and  happiness  of  our  fiivored  coun- 
try. I  regret  that  my  pressing  engagements  here  will  not  permit  me  to 
attend.  Be  pleased  to  accept  my  gratefal  acknowledgments  of  your 
kindness, 

And  believe  me, 

With  great  regard. 

Yours  tnily, 

WASHINGTON  HUNT. 

Charles  A.  Stetson,  Esq.,  and  others, 

Committee. 


[From  Hon.  Martin  Van  Buren,  Ex-President  of  the  United  Stales.] 

Lindenwald,  Dec.  22,  1850. 
Dear  Sir : — 

I  regret  exceedingly  that  my  reply  to  the  kind  invitation  of  the  New 
England  Society,  has  been  accidentally  delayed  until  too  late  a  period  to 
be  communicated  to  the  members.  Please  make  my  apology  to  the  Com- 
mittee, and  believe  me  to  be, 

Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

M.  VAN  BUREN. 
C.  A.  Stetson,  Esq. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  UBRAflY  FAQUTY 

IlllllPilll 

A    000  655  653     4 


